Around first grade when I was learning arithmetic I began to think of numbers as having these complex personalities and interactions. 2 was the funny one, 3 was kind of stupid, 5 was the wild & cool one, 7 was a stuck-up brat, 8 was shy & quiet, 9 was sophisticated, 1,4 & 6 were all mellow, easy to get along with types. Some numbers got along better than others. 7 was always huting the other number's feelings, especially 6 & 8. I used to feel sorry for 6 & 8 and wish they didn't have to be next to 7 all the time.
A childhood belief about counting
others believed things like this
- I used to believe that numbers had gender, that the odd numbers were boys and even numbers were girls. — Evelyn
- I used to believe that after the number "ten" came the numbers "tendy-one, tendy-two..." etc.Anon
- This may sound absurd but I thought the numbers next to the Bible versus said what time the person said it at!— Biomeka
- Numbers went up to 100 then restarted at zero.Anon
- The highest of all numbers was "a finnety."— Becky
- i used to belive that 1 to 10 were the only numbers and all others were made up.....— Eric