Hickory dickory dock,
the moon shone on the clock
twelve o’clock midnight
“Little mouse goodnight!”
Hickory, dickory dock!
from Hickory Dickory Dock
written and illustrated by Keith Baker
Harcourt, 2007
I’m more of a word-nerd than a number cruncher, but for a reason I can’t seem to put my finger on (again!), I noticed numbers were flying through my brain and settling on 12.
Why? I wondered. I started wondering about
12 numbers on a clock
12 months in a year
including standard “Western,” Hebrew, Chinese, Hijri/Muslim
Most Native American tribes use 13 moons per year divided among 4 seasons. 3 each, Spring, Summer, Fall, and 4, Winter. (13 x 28 = 364)
12 inches on a ruler
12 eggs in a dozen
12 grades in school
And what about the world’s cultures? We find 12 Hebrew tribes, 12 Olympians, 12 Apostles, 12 signs of the Zodiac. Ancient India recognized 12 heavenly gods.
And what they might all have in common?
The easiest explanation is 12’s highly composite nature. It divides easily by 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and itself. Halves, thirds, and quarters are simple to figure out.
In the US, linear space is calculated using 12. It’s a carryover. The ancient Romans used 12 as a standard because it was so easy to divide. Inches were similarly divided, with the smallest mark at 1/16th. A yard, 36 inches and a multiple of 12, is also easily divided.
In Elizabethan England, marketers sold their goods by the dozen. A dozen is easy to divide. If a dozen eggs cost a shilling (12 pence), it was easy to know how much to charge for three or ten.
Why do 12 British pennies make 1 shilling, and 10 American pennies (if we ever get them back) only make 1 dime? Well, the easy answer is they don’t. In 1971 the UK replaced its historical monetary system (pounds, shillings, and pence) with the decimal system.
Eggs, roses, and school supplies are still commonly packaged in dozens. It’s easy to divide when you only need, say 3 eggs or want half a dozen roses or a cookie or two. When it comes to donuts and other bakery items, a common count is 13, a baker’s dozen.
According to Southern Living Magazine, the origin for a baker’s dozen dates back to a medieval law passed in 1266, during the reign of King Henry III. The king determined the specific weight for a loaf of bread. If a loaf came up light, the baker could be beaten or imprisoned, and yeast is hard to control. Two loaves of the same size might have different weights. As a precaution, bakers added an extra loaf or cookie or bagel to an order to overcompensate and avoid punishment.
Marking time is the oldest convention of all. We calculate the time between one sunrise and the next by dividing time into 24 hours, 12 for “daytime” and 12 more for “nighttime.” Dr. Nick Lomb of the Sydney Observatory says, “[o]ur 24-hour day comes from the ancient Egyptians…the length of day-time and night-time hours were unequal and varied with the seasons.” We standardized them with noon and midnight in the Middle Ages..
Time, both on clocks and calendars, is consistent around the world. Our 60-second minute and 60-minute hour come to us from the ancient Babylonians who also used 360 parts or degrees to divide a circle. They estimated a year to be approximately 360 days.
Since its calculation began, we’ve used sundials, water-clocks, hourglasses. Mechanical, pendulum clocks, quartz watches, and atomic clocks have “enabled us to measure time with increasing accuracy.” (Lomb)
But, we are losing our ability to read an analog clock due to its replacement with digital timepieces. Quarter-tills and half-pasts are reserved for usage by people of a certain age (measured in standard years and months).
I started thinking about school and found out most countries consider 18-year-olds adults. They can enter into contracts, vote, drive, marry. If they’re adults, they should be finished with school. Since six is the age most children begin their formal education, although Kindergarten is becoming more and more demanding, those 12 years, from 6 to 18, fit nicely into a standard education.
Even though so much of our societal norms are based on 12, we use base 10 to count. Our number system is called positional. Numerical values depend on where a number is in relation to other numbers around it. That’s why 103 is less than 301.
Now for the words themselves. Why don’t we say ten-ty one or even one-teen instead of 11 and ten-ty two or two-teen instead of 12? We get the tens place back by 13, 14, 15 and so on.
A study of etymology (where our words come from) points to the versatility of 12s so commonly used in markets and in trading goods. It’s another carryover.
English is a Germanic language. Eleven was “ten with one left over” ainlif (one left.) Twelve was twalif “ten with two left over.” In modern German, elf (11) and and zwölf (12). And in modern English, eleven and twelve.
So, no matter how you say it, twelve, or two more than ten, it’s a marketing thing, whether you’re measuring donuts, yards of fabric, or lines on a football field. Or hours in a “day” or “night.”
Religious complexities regarding Olympians, Hebrew tribes (lost or otherwise), Apostles, and various cultures’ interpretations of the Zodiac will have to wait for another 24-hour span.
In his opening of “Auguries of Innocence,” William Blake reminds us
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.
I’m still reading Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (Harper/HarperCollinsPublishers, 2022) and still loving it.
Be curious! (and stay in the moment as often as you can)
the moon shone on the clock
twelve o’clock midnight
“Little mouse goodnight!”
Hickory, dickory dock!
from Hickory Dickory Dock
written and illustrated by Keith Baker
Harcourt, 2007
I’m more of a word-nerd than a number cruncher, but for a reason I can’t seem to put my finger on (again!), I noticed numbers were flying through my brain and settling on 12.
Why? I wondered. I started wondering about
12 numbers on a clock
12 months in a year
including standard “Western,” Hebrew, Chinese, Hijri/Muslim
Most Native American tribes use 13 moons per year divided among 4 seasons. 3 each, Spring, Summer, Fall, and 4, Winter. (13 x 28 = 364)
12 inches on a ruler
12 eggs in a dozen
12 grades in school
And what about the world’s cultures? We find 12 Hebrew tribes, 12 Olympians, 12 Apostles, 12 signs of the Zodiac. Ancient India recognized 12 heavenly gods.
And what they might all have in common?
The easiest explanation is 12’s highly composite nature. It divides easily by 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and itself. Halves, thirds, and quarters are simple to figure out.
In the US, linear space is calculated using 12. It’s a carryover. The ancient Romans used 12 as a standard because it was so easy to divide. Inches were similarly divided, with the smallest mark at 1/16th. A yard, 36 inches and a multiple of 12, is also easily divided.
In Elizabethan England, marketers sold their goods by the dozen. A dozen is easy to divide. If a dozen eggs cost a shilling (12 pence), it was easy to know how much to charge for three or ten.
Why do 12 British pennies make 1 shilling, and 10 American pennies (if we ever get them back) only make 1 dime? Well, the easy answer is they don’t. In 1971 the UK replaced its historical monetary system (pounds, shillings, and pence) with the decimal system.
Eggs, roses, and school supplies are still commonly packaged in dozens. It’s easy to divide when you only need, say 3 eggs or want half a dozen roses or a cookie or two. When it comes to donuts and other bakery items, a common count is 13, a baker’s dozen.
According to Southern Living Magazine, the origin for a baker’s dozen dates back to a medieval law passed in 1266, during the reign of King Henry III. The king determined the specific weight for a loaf of bread. If a loaf came up light, the baker could be beaten or imprisoned, and yeast is hard to control. Two loaves of the same size might have different weights. As a precaution, bakers added an extra loaf or cookie or bagel to an order to overcompensate and avoid punishment.
Marking time is the oldest convention of all. We calculate the time between one sunrise and the next by dividing time into 24 hours, 12 for “daytime” and 12 more for “nighttime.” Dr. Nick Lomb of the Sydney Observatory says, “[o]ur 24-hour day comes from the ancient Egyptians…the length of day-time and night-time hours were unequal and varied with the seasons.” We standardized them with noon and midnight in the Middle Ages..
Time, both on clocks and calendars, is consistent around the world. Our 60-second minute and 60-minute hour come to us from the ancient Babylonians who also used 360 parts or degrees to divide a circle. They estimated a year to be approximately 360 days.
Since its calculation began, we’ve used sundials, water-clocks, hourglasses. Mechanical, pendulum clocks, quartz watches, and atomic clocks have “enabled us to measure time with increasing accuracy.” (Lomb)
But, we are losing our ability to read an analog clock due to its replacement with digital timepieces. Quarter-tills and half-pasts are reserved for usage by people of a certain age (measured in standard years and months).
I started thinking about school and found out most countries consider 18-year-olds adults. They can enter into contracts, vote, drive, marry. If they’re adults, they should be finished with school. Since six is the age most children begin their formal education, although Kindergarten is becoming more and more demanding, those 12 years, from 6 to 18, fit nicely into a standard education.
Even though so much of our societal norms are based on 12, we use base 10 to count. Our number system is called positional. Numerical values depend on where a number is in relation to other numbers around it. That’s why 103 is less than 301.
Now for the words themselves. Why don’t we say ten-ty one or even one-teen instead of 11 and ten-ty two or two-teen instead of 12? We get the tens place back by 13, 14, 15 and so on.
A study of etymology (where our words come from) points to the versatility of 12s so commonly used in markets and in trading goods. It’s another carryover.
English is a Germanic language. Eleven was “ten with one left over” ainlif (one left.) Twelve was twalif “ten with two left over.” In modern German, elf (11) and and zwölf (12). And in modern English, eleven and twelve.
So, no matter how you say it, twelve, or two more than ten, it’s a marketing thing, whether you’re measuring donuts, yards of fabric, or lines on a football field. Or hours in a “day” or “night.”
Religious complexities regarding Olympians, Hebrew tribes (lost or otherwise), Apostles, and various cultures’ interpretations of the Zodiac will have to wait for another 24-hour span.
In his opening of “Auguries of Innocence,” William Blake reminds us
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.
I’m still reading Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (Harper/HarperCollinsPublishers, 2022) and still loving it.
Be curious! (and stay in the moment as often as you can)
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