History Main / CountingToPotato

* ''WebAnimation/ElementAnimation'': In "Villager News 2", the winning lottery numbers were revealed to be 1, 4, 17, 548, the letter M, and a drawing of a dog.

* ''WebAnimation/DaThings'': A participant in "The Price is Rice Jr." is Katherine years old, and Alice Fox of "[=StaCup=]" tells of completing eating sequences when she was Catherine years old.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', Mr. Crocker states that learning math is a waste of time, as in a world where fairies exist, fairies can just [[ComicBook/EmperorJoker warp reality so two plus two equals fish]].

* There is a [[MemeticMutation meme]] of people, [[UnfortunateImplications commonly those with Down's Syndrome]], with the quote "I can count to potato" since a Down's girl from the Midlands (England) [[http://mk81.com/sites/default/files/tumblr_m3f82bZ9LH1qbwn05o1_500.jpg was quoted for it]] on Creator/TheBBC News.

* In Issue 7 of ''WebAnimation/TeenGirlSquad'' (TheOneWith the [[SpinoffBabies Teeny Tiny Girl Squad]]), Toddler Whats-Her-Face claims "I can count to G!" while Toddler Cheerleader brags "I can count to purple, backwards."

** Tommy, Numbuh 2's younger brother, calls himself Numbah T when getting oriented as an offical Kid Next Door. This gets called out by the other kids at the ceremony. It gets accepted anyway.

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

* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': The scores to {{Calvinball}} range from oogie to boogie, to Q to 12. Given that the whole point is to make it up as you go, this probably goes for the scores as well.

** In [[ShowWithinAShow Angels With Filthy Souls]], Johnny counts off one, two, ten before pumping Snakes's guts full of lead.

* Sometimes present in the "Numberwang" sketches on ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'', a fictional and completely non-sequitur number guessing game show. One episode has the host saying "So Julie, you're ahead on 77; Simon, you trail on 83"; another has "Autumn" appearing when he asks for time on the clock.

* Music/TheBeatles' "Eight Days A Week" is a variation on this as the title was a typical Ringo malapropism.

* In ''VideoGame/TheSimpsonsHitAndRun'', the bonus races are run by Milhouse, Nelson, and Ralph. All of them will throw in some variation on the countdown just to mess with you. For example, Nelson will say "Psyche!" to mess with your timing, Milhouse coughs from inhaling smog and his countdown is extremely slow, and Ralph is incapable of counting so he just uses whatever random things he comes up with.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XccUMOQ978 Group X teaches you how to count to "Schfifty Five".]]
-->"Shwam, doo, two-and-heif, scheven, schfourteen-teen, schwenty-one, shwenty-seven-heif, 27, 37, WHAT YOU SAYIN??"
* Creator/{{Seanbaby}} will occasionally use these when dealing with a figure too stupid for real integers. His article on MMA fighter [[http://www.cracked.com/blog/worst-life-ever-the-story-of-kazuyuki-fujitas-skull/ Kazuyuki Fujita's legendarily indestructible skull]] includes fighting tips with made-up numbers like ''floop'', ''harf'', ''formy'' & ''glap''.

** In "Marge's Son Poisoning". Homer is doing curls with a dumbbell. He starts counting normally, before randomly skipping through numbers, and then including 'banana'.

* Counting in hexadecimal (base-16), which can happen in computer science, can look like this, since it goes 1, 2, 3,..., 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F, 10, 11, 12,..., 18, 19, 1A, 1B, etc.

** In the ShowWithinAShow Angels with Filthy Souls, Johnny counts off one, two, ten before pumping Snakes's guts full of lead.

* ''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.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', Mr. Crocker states that learning math is a waste of time, as in a world where fairies exist, fairies can just warp reality so two plus two equals fish.

** Tommy, Numbuh 2's younger brother, calls himself Numbah T when getting oriented as such. This gets called out by the other Numbahs at the ceremony. It gets accepted anyway.

* ''WebVideo/JonTron'' gives bizarre fractions, such as, for example, "Six Golden Bananas+/Shigeru Miyamoto" in the rare instance he gives a score for a game.

-->'''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.

* In TropeNamer ''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!''"

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperheroSquadShow'' episode "The Final Battle! ('Nuff Said!)", the Hulk tries to count the Infinity Stones to make sure he and the other Squaddies have gathered all of them. His choice of numbers leaves a lot to be desired.

[[[/folder]]

[[folder:Newspaper Comic Strips]]

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

[[folder: Fan Works ]]

[[folder: 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.
* In TropeNamer ''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!''"
* ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'': "One...two...FIVE!"

[[folder: Literature ]]

-->'''Detritus''': SOUND OFF!
-->'''Troll Recruits''': ONE! TWO!
-->'''Detritus''': SOUND OFF!
-->'''Troll Recruits''': MANY! LOTS!
-->'''Detritus''': SOUND OFF!
-->'''Troll Recruits''': ERR! WHAT?

* ''Literature/PippiLongstocking'' does this. "One, two, nineteen."
* ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'': The monsters going through the Doors of Death in Tartarus go through in groups with designations going from A-22 to Double Red. Hyperion wonders just what kind of number system that is.
* In ''[[Literature/AlcatrazSeries Alcatraz Versus The Shattered Lens]]'', Alcatraz deliberately numbers his chapters in a way that makes no sense, so that if the order-obsessed cult of Evil Librarians tries to read it their heads will explode.

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* ''[[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?"

* ''Series/DoctorWho'', from "Voyage of the Damned":
-->'''The Doctor''': First things first. One. We are going to climb through this ship. B. (No.) Two. We are going to reach the bridge. Three. Or C. We are going to save the Titanic. And, coming in a very low four. Or D. Or that little iv in brackets they use in footnotes. Why? Right then, follow me.
* The ''Series/FullHouse'' episode "Arrest Ye Merry Gentleman" has Jesse saying to the joke shop owner (played by Creator/MickeyRooney) who is keeping them hostage in his shop (and has just made fun of Jesse's hair), "A) It's mousse. And 2) Bring those cops on, OK?"
* Sometimes present in the "Numberwang" sketches on ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'', a fictional and completely non-sequitur number guessing game show. One episode has the host saying "So Julie, you're ahead on 77; Simon, you trail on 83"; another has "Autumn" appearing when he asks for time on the clock.
* The ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode "Dimension Jump" finds Holly preparing to activate his new invention, the Holly Hop Drive:
-->'''Holly''': 10... 9... 8... 6... 5...\\
'''Rimmer''': You missed number seven!\\
'''Holly''': Did I? I've always had a bit of a blind spot with sevens.\\
'''Rimmer''' ''[sing-song]'': We're going to die.\\
'''Holly''': No problem, I'll start lower down.

[[folder: Music ]]

[[folder: Newspaper Comics ]]

* In an early ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' strip, Lucy counts her cookies thusly: "One, six, eleventy-four, thirteen-eight, nine million, twelvty-three". But despite this, she can still tell that Snoopy took two of them when she wasn't looking.
* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': The scores to {{Calvinball}} range from oogie to boogie, to Q to 12. Given that the whole point is to make it up as you go, this probably goes for the scores as well.

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* The page quote is of Darren Criss on his ''Series/{{Glee}}'' costar Creator/ChrisColfer awarding himself 12 out of 10.
* There is a [[MemeticMutation meme]] of people, [[UnfortunateImplications commonly those with Down's Syndrome]], with the quote "I can count to potato" since a Down's girl from the Midlands (England) [[http://mk81.com/sites/default/files/tumblr_m3f82bZ9LH1qbwn05o1_500.jpg was quoted for it]] on Creator/TheBBC News.
* A logic quiz which devolved into a meme has the answers of 2+2= fish, 3+3= 8 and 7+7= triangle. A variant can also be found in one ''VideoGame/ProfessorLayton'' game.
* The [[MilitaryAlphabet NATO phonetic alphabet]], used to maximize clarity in official audio communications, uses easily-distinguished words for letters (alpha, bravo, charlie, etc) and supplants 9 with "niner" to ensure it can't be confused with the German "Nein", or with "five" when transmissions' quality is poor. Words substituted for letters were selected, irrespective of actual meaning, after exhaustive tests to determine which English words were most easily distinguished when conveyed between people of various NATO nationalities and accents.
* The cheeky song intro "A one, and a two, and a ching-chong banana!" seems to qualify.
* There's a classic drinking game called "Fizz Buzz", in which players pick a number (say, 7), then take turns counting upwards, until they reach a multiple of the number (7, 14, 21, and so on) and have to say "buzz" instead. Failure results in having to drink a shot. It's also used without alcohol in acting circles as a concentration technique, and in schools, in teaching kids their multiplication tables.

[[folder: Theater ]]

* ''Theatre/MuchAdoAboutNothing'': The incompetent constable Dogberry has just caught a pair of criminals, and is trying to tell Don Pedro what they did in a speech that combines this trope with getting stuck in a revolving door at the DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment:
-->'''Constable Dogberry:''' Marry, sir, they have committed false report; moreover, they have spoken untruths; secondarily, they are slanders; sixth and lastly, they have belied a lady; thirdly, they have verified unjust things; and, to conclude, they are lying knaves.
** Don Pedro replies in kind:
--> '''Don Pedro''': First, I ask you what they've done; thirdly, I ask you what offense they're charged with; sixth and lastly, I ask you why they've been committed here; and, in conclusion, I ask what they're accused of.

[[folder: Theme Parks ]]

* ''Ride/DisneyThemeParks''. At the entrance to Toontown in Disneyland, there's a population counter which is constantly cycling through numbers...and screws, stars, dumbbells, TNT, and various other random things.

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* ''Videogame/DeadlyRoomsOfDeath'' has a RunningGag in the DLC level set, "Perfection" in which Beethro tries to count something, and a voice in his head starts counting with him and messes up. Subverted in one room where the voice starts counting, and doing it correctly, prompting Beethro to tell it that there's nothing that needs counting.
* ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'': Slim.
--> '''Slim:''' "OOOOONNNE! TWOOOOO! THREEEEE! FIIIIIIIVE! FOUUUR! EEEEIGHT! SEVENTEEN!!!! THREE-POINT-ONE-FOUR!!!! ONE MARZILLION!! TENNNNN!!!"
* In ''VideoGame/TheSimpsonsHitAndRun'', the bonus races are run by Milhouse, Nelson, and Ralph. All of them will throw in some variation on the countdown just to mess with you. For example, Nelson will say "Psyche!" to mess with your timing, Milhouse coughs from inhaling smog and his countdown is extremely slow, and Ralph is incapable of counting so he just uses whatever random things he comes up with.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Original ]]

* In the "Top 11 Nostalgic Mindf*cks" episode, ''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic'' counts down from "number banana" to "number relativity'.
* ''WebVideo/JonTron'' gives bizarre fractions, such as, for example, "Six Golden Bananas+/Shigeru Miyamoto" in the rare instance he gives a score for a game.
* In Issue 7 of ''WebAnimation/TeenGirlSquad'' (TheOneWith the [[SpinoffBabies Teeny Tiny Girl Squad]]), Toddler Whats-Her-Face claims "I can count to G!" while Toddler Cheerleader brags "I can count to purple, backwards."
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XccUMOQ978 Group X teaches you how to count to "Schfifty Five".]]
-->"Shwam, doo, two-and-heif, scheven, schfourteen-teen, schwenty-one, shwenty-seven-heif, 27, 37, WHAT YOU SAYIN??"
* Creator/{{Seanbaby}} will occasionally use these when dealing with a figure too stupid for real integers. His article on MMA fighter [[http://www.cracked.com/blog/worst-life-ever-the-story-of-kazuyuki-fujitas-skull/ Kazuyuki Fujita's legendarily indestructible skull]] includes fighting tips with made-up numbers like ''floop'', ''harf'', ''formy'' & ''glap''.
* ''LetsPlay/TwitchPlaysPokemonBrown'' had its win condition reached on the 11th day, but didn't end immediately after reaching the win condition because the update to [[LetsPlay/TwitchPlaysPokemonArena PBR]] wasn't finished. Because of this, the timestamp on the final update in [[Recap/TwitchPlaysPokemonBrown our recap page]] is 10d26h1m, aka '''26 hours''' and 1 minute into Day 11.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* ''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..."
** In "Marge's Son Poisoning". Homer is doing curls with a dumbbell. He starts counting normally, before randomly skipping through numbers, and then including 'banana'.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'' has two examples from Sven Hoek in his self-titled episode. When playing "seek and hide" with Stimpy, he counts "Nine... eleven... K... fjord... one yundred!" Then when playing the "Don't Whiz on the Electric Fence" board game with Stimpy, Sven moves eight spaces, counting as he does so, "One, six, yirteen... eight!"
* ''Series/StrangeHillHigh'': After Mitchell breaks maths in "The 101% Solution", the answer to one square root problem become 'banana football'. Later, while attempting to score -1% on a maths exam, Mitchell gives the answer to one question as 'hamburger'.

* The segments in the fourth installment of Spike and Mike's series ''Lloyd's Lunchbox'' are numbered Lesson One, Lesson B, Third, and Lesson 4.

* In ''WesternAnimation/YoohooAndFriends'', Chewoo, Pammee, and several other characters have a tendency to include colors while counting.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' episode "Three Gems and a Baby", Greg does this as he tries to explain why baby Steven's gem begins to glow.
-->'''Pearl:''' Well, what do you do with a human baby when it glows?!\\
'''Greg:''' First off, human babies don't glow. And letter number B... WHAT IF THEY DO?!

* On a couple of occasions in ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'', Numbuh 4's given some pretty strange countdowns, with letters and random numbers. Presumably, this is a combo of him being BookDumb and the overall strangeness of operating the KND's [[BambooTechnology 2x4 Technology]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperheroSquadShow'' episode "The Final Battle! ('Nuff Said!)", the Hulk tries to count the Infinity Stones to make sure he and the other Squaddies have gathered all of them. His choice of numbers leaves a lot to be desired.
-->'''Hulk:''' One, seven, fish, two thousand, negative three...
* The ''WesternAnimation/CampLazlo'' episode "Snake Eyes" had a scene where some of the Bean Scouts were playing hide and seek. Skip claims that he can count to ten, but his counting goes as "1, 3, 11..."

* In the WesternAnimation/TheBeatles cartoon episode "Eight Days A Week," Hollywood screen lover Lips Lovelace loses his ability to kiss. Paul says it's preposterous and that anybody can kiss, prompting Lovelace to vent:
-->'''Lovelace:''' Really? [[TitleDrop Eight days a week?]] Six weeks a month? Thirteen months a year??
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' episode "The Cycle", after an attempted prank by the Wattersons, Harold thinks he's rich and pays a skywriter to write Richard saying "I can count to burrito!"