How many is twelve and why?

[alfredo]

[sammythecat]

1. 12 is a dozen. If it wasn't, it would just be another number.

"Which it is." -- Anton Chigurth

[Richard Steele]

2. It depends: twelve of what? nm

[GoddessOfGuinness]

3. Twelve is 10 and an additional 2

From Wiki:

The word "twelve" is a native English word that presumably arises from the Germanic compound twa-lif "two-leave", meaning that two is left after one takes away the base, ten. This compound meaning may have been transparent to speakers of Old English, but the modern form "twelve" is quite opaque. Only the remaining tw- hints that twelve and two are related. Etymology (Weekley, Skeat) suggests that "twelve" (similar to "eleven") consists of two parts, the first meaning "two" and the second "leftover", so a literal translation would yield "two remaining ".

[LeftyFingerPop]

4. 12 is whatever you define it to be.

If you took 2 items, and said "Whenever I speak to you, these 2 items will be called 12 items"....then that is what 12 would be. The names that we assign numbers are strictly man made and we can we redefine those names at will.

[Danger Mouse]

5. the answer is sausage.

[deucemagnet]

6. Twelve is the number of eggs you buy

because chickens lay them in two rows of six.

[lost-in-nj]

7. well 12 can be a dozen unless

you go to a bakery that will give you a
bakers dozen.... 13....


:hi:

lost

oh yeah

a dozen

roses
donuts
etc

[khashka]

8. Got no idea

I can only count to 5. I can manage 21 with both hands, no shoes and my pants off.


Khash.

[Orsino]

9. So eleven and thirteen don't have to sit next to each other at Thankgsgiving.

Awkward!

[alfredo]

10. Sounds like you got some extended family issues.

[Orsino]

11. I am *not* sitting through another "who's the best prime" debate again. n/t

[alfredo]

12. My concerns is surviving Aunt Mary's Broccoli casserole.

[unsavedtrash]

13. all of your toes and two of your fingers.

As of why- because 1 snagged the the loneliest number

[alfredo]

14. Two ones make either two or eleven, and as you can read above,

eleven is at odds with thirteen and needs twelve to stand between them.

[Coyote_Bandit]

15. 12 is a symbol that represents a set

of 12. Or so I was taught in my philosophy of math class. Useless knowldege. And circular logic IMHO.

[alfredo]

17. Anyone call him on it?

[BrotherBuzz]

16. Six of one, half dozen of the other