7 ms·
I was disappointed to find this poem didn't have exactly one hundred and sixty-seven words.
by bostonpete 9y ago
I was disappointed to find this poem didn't have exactly one hundred and sixty-seven words.
- OscarCunningham 9y agoIt's kind of weird that it doesn't. You could so easily change the "sixty-seven" to "twenty-five".
- flycaliguy 9y agoDon't ever let a poet see this comment.
- JumpCrisscross 9y ago> Don't ever let a poet see this comment Why?
- matthewowen 9y agothey don't sound the same.
- NamTaf 9y agoMy guess is that sixty-seven has four syllables, twenty-five has three.
- saghm 9y agoIn the first verse, there doesn't seem to be any pattern to the lengths (in syllables) of the lines; 10, 7, 8, 8, 12, 8. I'm not sure the meter would really be damaged that much by reducing the last line by one syllable.
- api_or_ipa 9y agothe passage has 125 words using `wc -w`.
- gegtik 9y agohe used 97 words to say "I love you" 32.333 times, you're taking away 42, so he would also have to say "I love you" eighteen and a third times
- ubersync 9y agoBut then, the poem will be 124 words (by changing "thirty two" to "eighteen"), so we will have to change 125 to 124. Then, he will be able to say "I love you" an exactly 18 times. So now we are 3 words shorter (by removing "and a third"). So it comes 121. With 121 words, he will be able to say "I love you" exactly 17 times. So, there you go. Change "one sixty seven" to "one twenty one", and "thirty two and a third times" to "seventeen times".
- cup-of-tea 9y agoIt's actually "thirty-two" which, by the rules established in the poem, counts as one word only. It works with 125 words by chance. The author missed an opportunity for a neat hack.
- yeukhon 9y agoWhere did he say 97 words to say I love you? I don't see that in the poem. Am I too dumb to see what is happening!???
- Harvey-Specter 9y ago> so I slowly whisper I love you > thirty-two and a third times. "I love you" is 3 words. 3 * 32.333333 = 97
- jawjay 9y agoMaybe the author already used the other 42 words for the day.
- andrewfong 9y agoPerhaps the author's a fan of Douglas Adams then?
- dsnuh 9y agoAt first I didnt understand why either, but looking at poem more and thinking about if I were writing it; I think he did it so he could use the "Thirty two and a third" line. It's much more dramatic and stimulating ("...I love you, I...") than just saying "twenty-five times". Edit: Oops, I think I screwed up my math. It would be 22 times. Edit: misquoted! worked in a record store too long. :)
- dEnigma 9y agoEDIT: Nevermind, I shouldn't comment late at night. Keeping the comment intact in case someone is currently responding, so context is preserved. EDIT2: It would work with the actual number of words in the poem (125) though, he would have to say "Eighteen and a third times". 59+11+18*3+1 = 125 OLD COMMENT: What do you mean? "Thirty-two and a third times" means exactly that, and not 22. He used 59 words that day, plus the eleven for the first part of the call, plus 32 times 3 ("I love you"), plus a third of "I love you", which is just one word. Makes 167.
- ch4s3 9y agoThe poet saved 42 words for later.