3V1063.02 Reciting number names: varied responses to correction (12/20/80)

I drove to New Haven. Miriam and Peggy came along for the ride. On
the return trip, Peggy stood behind and between the two front seats of
the Saab, holding on and exclaiming amazedly at nearly everything
seen. As I drove from I-91 down onto route 80, Peggy noted “There’s a
whole lotta tell-poles for people to count.” and began reciting number
names, “One, two, three, four, five, six, eight, nine, ten, eleven,
twelve… eighteen, nineteen, sixteen.” Let that list represent her basic
recitation. Miriam criticized the omission of “seven” — so Peggy added
it to the list by displacing and omitting “six”. Apparently she knew
there were more “teen” numbers, because at one point she repeated
several times “eighteen, nineteen sixteen, eighteen, nineteen sixteen,
eighteen, nineteen sixteen.” Finally, after “eighteen, nineteen, ” on one
occasion she concluded, “one, two, three, go.”

Was Peggy reciting merely ? She wasn’t counting. “tell-poles,” at least
gave no evidence of doing so. We can’t tell if she was counting objects
in her mind separate from her name list — but I doubt she was.

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