How many gifts would you get on the 12 days of christmas?

[ArticulateT]

we all know the short song 12 days of christmas right? well, I have a speculation.

effectivley, you should get one gift per day, but for song purposes, the gifts are repeated, or is it?

I had a look, and did a bit of math, but this is what comes up

at the twelfth day, you would have recieved

12 partidges in pear trees
22 turtle doves
30 french hens
36 calling birds
40 gold rings
42 geese a laying
42 swans a swimming
40 maids a milking
36 ladies dancing
30 lords leaping
22 pipers piping
12 drummers drumming

this gives you 364 gifts in 12 days. that's one gift a day for the entire year, bar one day. I'm not sure if this is some form of conspiracy, but I just did the math and thought "huh, that's interesting"

without the adding up, that gives you 78 gifts, which can be one gift a day over 2.6 months

so, do you think it's that many gifts, or just the one kind of gift a day?

 

[Vinnie275]

we all know the short song 12 days of christmas right? well, I have a speculation.

effectivley, you should get one gift per day, but for song purposes, the gifts are repeated, or is it?

I had a look, and did a bit of math, but this is what comes up

at the twelfth day, you would have recieved

12 partidges in pear trees
22 turtle doves
30 french hens
36 calling birds
40 gold rings
42 geese a laying
42 swans a swimming
40 maids a milking
36 ladies dancing
30 lords leaping
22 pipers piping
12 drummers drumming

this gives you 364 gifts in 12 days. that's one gift a day for the entire year, bar one day. I'm not sure if this is some form of conspiracy, but I just did the math and thought "huh, that's interesting"

without the adding up, that gives you 78 gifts, which can be one gift a day over 2.6 months

so, do you think it's that many gifts, or just the one kind of gift a day?

I'm not at all sure what I would do with 22 pipers.

 

[THISISYOURPILOTSPEAKING]

Zero

/10chars

 

[Jammer]

so, do you think it's that many gifts, or just the one kind of gift a day?

My guess, and this is just a guess, is that each gift is repeated just once, for a total of 78 gifts, and not 364.

It's like saying, "Today I went to the mall. Yesterday I went swimming and today I went to the mall. Two days ago I went biking, yesterday I went swimming, and today I went to the mall."

You're just repeating something you've already stated--you're not saying you made a second or third trip to the mall.

But you're right that it is ambiguous.

 

[Zink]

My guess, and this is just a guess, is that each gift is repeated just once, for a total of 78 gifts, and not 364.

It's like saying, "Today I went to the mall. Yesterday I went swimming and today I went to the mall. Two days ago I went biking, yesterday I went swimming, and today I went to the mall."

You're just repeating something you've already stated--you're not saying you made a second or third trip to the mall.

But you're right that it is ambiguous.

The problem with that is: it doesn't say that each gift was given on the previous days, it only says the day number, then a gift list. This leaves it ambiguous, because it's unclear if the gifts are re-given each day, or if it's a running count.

 

[Mr.GAW]

36 ladies dancing... 0_o.

 

[Danyul]

I would only keep the golden rings, then throw the rest out.

 

[Vicious Delicious]

364 days? 12 months? I never made that connection from this song...

I'd keep the ladies, maids, and golden rings...

 

[Jammer]

The problem with that is: it doesn't say that each gift was given on the previous days, it only says the day number, then a gift list. This leaves it ambiguous, because it's unclear if the gifts are re-given each day, or if it's a running count.

Oh, you're totally right.

Hmm... While that takes away my main argument, I still believe that it's only 78 gifts. It just feels right, you know?

The Wikipedia article says that it's traditionally counted as 78 items.

 

[Gamer4Fire]

I'm pretty sure that it is a running total of all the things you've received, not an addition of the same things over again.