History Main / CountingToPotato

* ''[[Film/ErnestPWorrell Hey Vern, It's Ernest!]]''. While preparing for a baking contest, Ernest reminds Vern of three basic principles (while holding up four fingers): "Number one - always use plenty of sauce. B - always squeeze yer tomaters. And three - don't forget to thump your melons, knowwhutImean?"

In situations involving single numbers - or letters when spelling out - any of these numbers or letters may be replaced by one out of sequence, a numerical for a letter or vice versa, or just a random word. This is most often done by TheDitz or by someone mocking their perceived lack of general knowledge, or by characters to try to [[ObfuscatingStupidity appear stupid]].

Always PlayedForLaughs, but not always by someone stupid as in RealLife it is entirely possible to forget where you got up to when designating reasons in lists and/or if it was with numbers or letters. The best examples follow the structure of 'number-letter-thing'.

A number or letter is replaced by something else - anything else, maybe even a picture - in an isolated situation. Let's say you're in math class and you get asked to write on mini wipe boards the answers to some incomplete equations. What's 3x5? You draw a duck. What's 10% of 160? You write "Ze".

Letters or numbers replaced by a similar-looking picture, letter or number. So, 2 replacing Z but not M replacing W.

[[AC: {{Literature}}]]
* In ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'', trolls have a counting system based on fours, rather than tens (apart from Detritus, who ends up counting in binary). As a result a troll counting "one, two, three, many"[[note]]and continuing "many-one, many-two" all the way up to "many-many-many-three" which is followed by "lots"[[/note]] comes across this way (leading to an InUniverse stereotype that trolls can't count past three).
* In ''Tacky the Penguin'', "odd bird" Tacky always counts, "One, two three, four, two, three, six, zero, two and a half, zero."

* JonTron gives bizarre fractions, such as, for example, "3 ice cream out of banana" in the rare instance he gives a score for a game.

* In the "Top 11 Nostalgic Mindf*cks" episode, the NostalgiaCritic counts down from "number banana" to "number relativity'.

* In [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYIRO97dhII this]] SesameStreet skit, a little girl trolls Kermit the Frog as he attempts to recite the alphabet with her:
--->'''Girl''': A, B, C, D, E, F, ''Cookie Monster!''

* ''[[Film/ErnestPWorrell Hey Vern, It's Ernest!]]''. While preparing for a baking contest, Ernest reminds Vern of three basic principals (while holding up four fingers): "Number one - always use plenty of sauce. B - always squeeze yer tomaters. And three - don't forget to thump your melons, knowwhutImean?"

* In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYIRO97dhII this]] SesameStreet skit, a little girl trolls Kermit the Frog as he attempts to recite the alphabet with her:
--->'''Girl''':A,B,C,D,E,F,''Cookie Monster!''

* ''MuchAdoAboutNothing'': The incompetent constable Dogberry has just caught a pair of criminals, and is trying to tell Don Pedro what they did:

->"He doesn't go by numbers, he gets hieroglyphics."
-->-- '''Creator/DarrenCriss about Creator/ChrisColfer, [[http://www.accesshollywood.com/paleyfest2011-glees-darren-criss-on-sharing-a-kiss-with-chris-colfer_video_1314563 here]].'''

** She turned the [[http://25.media.tumblr.com/fd0af41ad08641670765d5eeac24aea5/tumblr_mmkngryNkV1qi3j3ko1_500.png 'g' in the title into a cat]] and, in all the season 4 countdown posters, [[http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/252/f/a/glee__season_4_brittany_and_kitty_promotional_by_abcdgleek-d5e4gv0.jpg the 'l' into a '7']].

Surprisingly unrelated to Letters2Numbers and ThreePlusFiveMakeFour. Occasionally overlaps with CountingToThree and may result in a case of EEqualsMCHammer.

Surprisingly unrelated to Letters2Numbers and ThreePlusFiveMakesFour. Occasionally overlaps with CountingToThree and may result in a case of EEqualsMCHammer.

Surprisingly unrelated to Letters2Numbers. Occasionally overlaps with CountingToThree and may result in a case of EEqualsMCHammer.

What makes it more adorable is that according to [[http://books.google.com/books?id=7ApdHuH7h8UC&pg=PT6&dq=brian+jay+jones+jim+henson+prologue&hl=en&sa=X&ei=grc0U67-M8TAyAHkpYHQCg&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=brian%20jay%20jones%20jim%20henson%20prologue&f=false this]] JimHenson biography, the girl thought up the joke without prompting, and Henson improvised Kermit's responses on the spot.

* In ''Film/TheRinger'', Steve Baker ([[Series/{{Jackass}} Johnny Knoxville]]) is pretending to be mentally retarded, and one of the things he says while practicing in the mirror is, "I can count to ''potato!''"

* On ''Series/{{Glee}}'', Kurt says that Brittany believes that the square root of four is rainbows.

** "How many 'm's are in the letter 'r'?"

Surprisingly unrelated to Letters2Numbers. Occasionally overlaps with CountingToThree. May result in EEqualsMCHammer.

Surprisingly unrelated to Letters2Numbers. Occasionally overlaps with CountingToThree.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' is notorious for its portrayal of the "typical hillbilly". In "Rednecks and Broomsticks", Lisa is playing with the Spuckler children, they counted while she hid as saying, "One, two, backwards-z, one-legged triangle, banana hotdog, double-banana hotdog, sixty-corncob-two..."

--> '''Creator/DarrenCriss about Creator/ChrisColfer, [[http://www.accesshollywood.com/paleyfest2011-glees-darren-criss-on-sharing-a-kiss-with-chris-colfer_video_1314563 here]].'''

--> Creator/DarrenCriss about Creator/ChrisColfer, [[http://www.accesshollywood.com/paleyfest2011-glees-darren-criss-on-sharing-a-kiss-with-chris-colfer_video_1314563 here]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' is notorious for its portrayal of the "typical hillbilly". In "Rednecks and Broomsticks", Lisa is playing with the Spuckler children, they counted while she hid as saying, "One, two, backwards-z, one-legged triangle, banana hotdog, double-banana hotdog, sixty-corncob-two..."

'''¶: LuckyCharmsTitle''':

reply:
Compare CountingStutter.

reply:
WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons is notorious for its portrayal of the "typical hillbilly". In Rednecks and Broomsticks, Lisa is playing with the Spuckler children, they counted while she hid as saying, "One, two, backwards-z, one-legged triangle, banana hotdog, double-banana hotdog, sixty-corncob-two..."

reply:
Once again, this is one of those ones that I was thinking about; I think this should be a trope, however, I think the name could use a little work, since numbers ''are'' involved, just not in their correct order.

Here are a couple of more examples I can think of:

[[AC: {{Film}}]]
* ''Film/HomeAlone''. As the [=McAllister=] family wonder about Kevin from Paris, Megan asks Buzz if he's not the least bit concerned about his well being, or something bad happening to him.
-->'''Buzz:''' No, for three reasons: A) I'm not that lucky. 2) We have smoke detectors. And D) We live on the most boring street in the United States of America, where nothing remotely dangerous ''will'' ever happen, period.

[[AC: LiveActionTV]]
* ''[[Film/ErnestPWorrell Hey Vern, It's Ernest!]]''. While preparing for a baking contest, Ernest reminds Vern of three basic principals (while holding up four fingers): "Number one - always use plenty of sauce. B - always squeeze yer tomaters. And three - don't forget to thump your melons, knowwhutImean?"

[[AC: WesternAnimation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/CowAndChicken'' uses this quite often, considering almost all of the characters have some CloudCuckoolander in them. Some more specific examples:
-->''Red Guy is trying to expose Super Cow''
-->'''Red Guy:''' WHAT ELSE DO I KNOW ABOUT SUPER COW? ''WHAT ELLLLSE?!'' OKAY, THINK! A) She speaks Spanish. 2) She's a superhero...
-->''Chicken kicking Cow out of his new treefort''
-->'''Chicken:''' 1) It's for men only. And B) You're a six-hundred-pound girl!