I always took it that way as well purely from the standpoint of practicality and good sense ("Oh... 8 MORE Maid-a-Milking... I hope you plan to give me ten Cows-a-Swelling tomorrow...." ) Taken literally, however, the song does say the whole list is given anew each day. For no good reason.
It's just weird
I also find it interesting that summing all the ordinals 1-12 then adding THAT to the sum of all ordinals except the largest, recursively, yields the number of days in a 12 month year, minus 1. I am certain there is something mysterious and awe inspiring behind that, probably involving the Golden Mean, the Masons and Simon Magus.
Meh, numerology, one could point out that it could be 12 higher by just acknowledging partridge and pear tree as separate gifts, for that matter a 4 week 13 month calendar with 'Smarch' that celebrated one of the solstices as free day or something would have 364. Anyway it's a 'tetrahedral number', like a triangular number (1-3-6-10-15-21) only 3D like a pyramid, and those are 1, 4, 10, 20, 35, 56, 84, 120, 165, 220, 286, 364, 455... you do them with stacked cannonballs, if you want a visual, but the physical significance is a pyramid, so I guess Mason if you want one of those
EDIT: Also, you missed a MATH question. *points, laughs*
Particularly since it was the only one I missed, damn it, I was sure when I went to the answers I'd finally have a 10/10. My brain just automatically inserted n(n+1)/2 in there, which for approximation I usually think of as half the square, like that 100 handshakes problem. My math wasn't what was wrong, my core assumption was wrong, so painful to the ego or not, it really wasn't a math question that I missed. Personally I think 78 is a perfectly legit answer too.
The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.
- Albert Einstein
King of Cairhien 20-7-2
Chancellor of the Landsraad, Archduke of Is'Mod
- Albert Einstein
King of Cairhien 20-7-2
Chancellor of the Landsraad, Archduke of Is'Mod
Christmas
16/12/2011 01:16:56 PM
- 708 Views
Answers
16/12/2011 01:19:26 PM
- 485 Views
Four. Got two unfortunate guesses on the dates, I guess. And number four is just lame. *NM*
16/12/2011 11:10:45 PM
- 180 Views
9/10, interesting, missed #9 of all things
16/12/2011 08:21:07 PM
- 398 Views
Ya know, that song seems kinda strange on reflection
16/12/2011 08:27:14 PM
- 523 Views
Yeah, they do interpret it rather strangely there... but I guess grammatically it makes sense.
16/12/2011 11:16:56 PM
- 415 Views
I have always considered it ambiguous, personally.
17/12/2011 01:34:46 PM
- 469 Views
Yeah, it was a rough one to have missed
17/12/2011 07:52:22 PM
- 422 Views
How exactly is this being scored? 14/17
17/12/2011 01:25:54 PM
- 558 Views
Also, I cry foul on #4.
17/12/2011 01:27:59 PM
- 388 Views
You obviously weren't raised Catholic
17/12/2011 05:22:51 PM
- 409 Views
No, but I have a good friend who is Catholic and attends a Midnight Mass seemingly every week.
17/12/2011 07:19:17 PM
- 424 Views
any chance your girlfriend was going to Midnight Mass with him? *NM*
22/12/2011 01:22:26 PM
- 173 Views