Counting Sheep

Hi Everyone

The other night I was having trouble sleeping and so remembered that old idea of counting sheep to induce the zzzs. This then reminded me of some research I had been doing on Welsh numbering systems for my novel. Before long I was thinking of the Cumbrian sheep counting systems I had come across and other interesting titbits. As I am one of those people who once they have an idea in theirs heads wants to confirm the details or else keeps winding idea after speculation after mystery. So much for sleep. Eventually, I bribed my mind with more research in the morning in exchange for sleep. It worked. Sort of.

Credit: http://tlp.advancedbrain.com/a/sleep/

The first thing to realise is that apparently counting sheep may not be the best way of getting to sleep. Recent research discovered that participants imagining a ‘beach or a waterfall’ fell asleep 20 minutes faster than those asked to ‘simply distract from thoughts, worries and concerns’, which of course may involve counting sheep. The main thing to come out of the research is the idea that using the brain in complex mental activities can help induce sleep. Good to know.

With that out of the way, I want to look at the sheep counting systems I came across in my research. I was looking at Cumbrian, an extinct Brythonic language, mainly because part of my novel is set in the area in which that language evolved. It turned out that remnants of the language could be found in sheep counting systems used in the north and highlands of Britain. The numbers seemed to be a mixture of Celtic words and invented words for rhyming and memory purposes. The table below shows some of these systems:

Number	Wilts	Scots	Lakes	Dales	Welsh
1	Ain	Yan	Auna	Yain	Un
2	Tain	Tyan	Peina	Tain	Dau
3	Tethera	Tethera	Para	Edderoa	Tri
4	Methera	Methera	Peddera	Peddero	Pedwar
5	Mimp	Pimp	Pimp	Pitts	Pump
6	Ayta	Sethera	Ithy	Tayter	Chwech
7	Slayta	Lethera	Mithy	Leter	Saith
8	Laura	Hovera	Owera	Overro	Wyth
9	Dora	Dovera	Lowera	Coverro	Naw
10	Dik	Dik	Dig	Dix	Deg
11	Ain-a-dik	Yanadik	Ain-a-dig	Yain-dix	Un ar ddeg
12	Tain-a-dik	Tyanadik	Pein-a-dig	Tain-dix	Deuddeg
13	Tethera-a-dik	Tetheradik	Para-a-dig	Eddero-dix	Tri ar ddeg
14	Methera-a-dik	Metheradik	Peddaer-a-dig	Pedderp-dix	Pedwar ar ddeg
15	Mit	Bumfitt	Bunfit	Bumfitt	Pymtheg
16	Ain-a-mit	Yanabumfit	Aina-a-bumfit	Yain-o-bumfitt	Un ar bymtheg
17	Tain-a-mit	Tyanabumfitt	Pein-a-bumfit	Tain-o-bumfitt	Dau ar bymtheg
18	Tethera-mit	Tetherabumfitt	Par-a-bunfit	Eddero-bumfitt	Deunaw
19	Gethera-mit	Metherabumfitt	Pedder-a-bumfit	Peddero-bumfitt	Pedwar ar bymtheg
20	Ghet	Giggot	Giggy	Jiggit	Ugain

Source: here

Metheradik (=14) sheep in the west of Ireland (photo by Stan Carey) Source here.

See this video or this one for a folk song (‘Molly Metcalfe’) that uses the Yan-Tan-Tether-Mether-Pip system from Swaledale.

What I found of interest in this research is how the shepherds would use such a system. According to this site, a shepherd would count to twenty (for example, yan to giggot), which is a score, and then make a mark on his/her crook or put a stone in her/his pocket. The number of marks or stones would help give the final tally of the flock.

However, what if no stones were available or he/she couldn’t make a mark? Then the shepherd could do the following (found here): 

1.  Count the first score
2. Form a fist with the left hand
3. Count another score
4. Indicate this with a raised thumb
5. Continue counting scores
6. Five fingers raised would equal 120 sheep
7. If more sheep need counting, use the right hand to indicate cycles of the left hand
8. Total number of sheep that could be counted this way is 20 x 6 x 6 = 720 (not the 600 mentioned on the site)
9. No flock would likely be more than this number

Source here.

What if you want to count more than 720 things? Here’s another system (adapted from here), based on counting with the fingers, a type of binary system: 

1. Use the left hand in a fist
2. One = thumb raised
3. Two = index finger raised
4. Three = thumb and index finger
5. Four = second finger
6. Five = thumb and second finger
7. Six = first and second finger
8. Seven = thumb, first and second finger
9. Eight = third finger
10. Nine to Fifteen = Third plus cycle through as above
11. Sixteen = Fourth finger
12. Seventeen to Thirty = Fourth plus cycle through as above
13. Thirty-one = Thumb and four fingers raised
14. Another thirty-one = The right hand with all fingers raised 

As with the previous example, one could use the same approach with the right hand to multiply the number of items counted:

1. Left hand with raised fingers = 31
2. Right hand with raised fingers = another 31
3. Left hand raised and right thumb up = another 31
4. Left hand raised and first finger up = another 31, etc.
5. With each cycle of the left hand, raise the appropriate finger/s of the right hand
6. Counting finishes when the fingers of both hands are raised

So, with practice, you could win bets by claiming you can count with your fingers to

(31 + 31) + (31 x 31) = 62 + 961 = 1023

My mathematical mind finds all this fascinating, though I’m sure others may not, especially if you try to force them to watch while you demonstrate the counting process :)

As for using any of this in my novel, something may find its way in, but not as yet.

I hope you’ve enjoyed. As always, I welcome any queries or comments.

All the best

Earl

Common Writing Errors 2: Use of the Colon for Lists

Hi Everyone

Something came up in the last couple of weeks that I thought may be of interest. I was working on a big editing and proofreading project for a corporate client and someone queried whether or not a colon should be used for a certain sentence ending with a dot point list. I said it wasn’t needed and then had to explain why. As is generally the case with grammar questions, sometimes you know the correct answer but can’t quite articulate the reason for it, or even if you can, you can’t articulate it in a way that someone else can understand. So, after thinking more about the situation afterwards, I hope what I’ve written below may help people clarify the use of the colon in the context of lists and dot points.

Below is an example of the type of list sentence that seems to cause confusion (and notice the use of a colon to state that an example follows):

She wore a cherry red bandana, a striped eye patch, an electronic parrot on her shoulder, animated tattoos on her arms, white blouse, black trousers, and a lightsaber at her waist.

Image of a real life female pirate: Mary Read, (1690-1720), British Pirate's Mate.
Raised as a boy, married twice,fought like a man and died of scarlet fever.
Unfortunately, no lightsabers in the 18th century. Source here.

When written this way, it’s obvious the list is the object of the verb ‘wore’. In this situation, you don’t need any punctuation after the verb; that is, you wouldn’t write

She wore: a cherry red banana, a striped eye patch…

So far, so good. However, some people seem to have trouble when such a sentence is put into bullet/dot point form. Often, I see the following construction:

She wore:

• a cherry red bandana
• a striped eye patch
• an electronic parrot on her shoulder
• animated tattoos on her arms
• white blouse
• black trousers
• a light sabre at her waist

The dot point form is generally used to make the list easier to follow, but technically it is still a single sentence. If one wants to quibble, the list should look like this:

She wore

• a cherry red bandana,
• a striped eye patch,
• an electronic parrot on her shoulder,
• animated tattoos on her arms,
• white blouse,
• black trousers, and
• a light sabre at her waist.

However, with the push to punctuation simplification, especially in the business world, the list might look like this:

She wore

• a cherry red bandana
• a striped eye patch
• an electronic parrot on her shoulder
• animated tattoos on her arms
• white blouse
• black trousers
• a light sabre at her waist.

(The full stop at the end is optional. Such decisions are dependent on an organisation’s style guide.)

And to commemorate lightsabers, here's a poster for the new Star Wars film. Source here.

Now, by slightly modifying the original sentence, we can examine the proper use of a colon for lists. Here it is:

She wore the following: a cherry red bandana, a striped eye patch, an electronic parrot on her shoulder, animated tattoos on her arms, white blouse, black trousers, and a light sabre at her waist.

To convert this sentence into a dot point list, we would do something like this:

She wore the following:

• a cherry red bandana
• a striped eye patch
• an electronic parrot on her shoulder
• animated tattoos on her arms
• white blouse
• black trousers
• a light sabre at her waist.

The keen-eyed among you may have noticed the underlined words. These are what I call ‘direction’ words, which indicate that a list follows. As is obvious from the last list example, such words require the use of a colon.

The more keen-eyed among you may have noticed such ‘direction’ words don’t have to be at the end of the line preceding the list, as in the ‘Here it is’ example above. Although the list follows a verb, the object of the verb is ‘here’, not the list: ‘It is here’.

So, the guidelines for colon use in a list are below:

1. Use a colon when the list follows a ‘direction’ word
2. Don’t use a colon when the list is the object of a verb

And remember, these guidelines apply whether you use a sentence or a list of dot points.

I hope that makes sense to you. I welcome any queries and comments.

All the best

Earl