Dozenal

base it on ten
and everybody
understands

base it on twelve
and it looks like a
cryptographer’s
wet dream

one
two
three
four
five
six
seven
eight
nine
ten
dek
ell
doh

ones
dozens
grosses
great-grosses
dozen great-grosses
gross great-grosses
grand grosses

X’s and E’s
A’s and B’s
T’s and E’s
X’s and Z’s
upside down 2’s and 3’s

madness, maybe?

who knows?

the advocates say it’s easier to represents decimals
because there are more factors for ten than twelve

the advocates also say that ounces and inches were
based off the dozen at one time long ago

and you count on finger bones, dominant hand
of course, and not use the others, so literally speaking,
the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing

but we are decimal culture, steeped in the tea called ten

we are bred to believe that one, two, five and ten are
the better factors without any kind of rational recourse

but does that even matter?

there really are rational reasons to use ten
and through the power of sheer memorization,
humans have functioned quite well on a daily basis
using the number of digits on their hands

we are not creatures with six digits
on each hand or each foot

the american method of measurement is an elegant
clusterfuck, a beautiful mish-mash of madness

we prefer ten, but we also use twelve every so often
but it seems we prefer powers of two in our denominators

and to represent those in duodecimal is as effective as
representing them in decimal, they don’t repeat

two is a factor of ten and twelve after all

we use thirds and sixths on occasion,
but ninths and eighteenths are few and
far between

even fifths in decimal have limited use,
so in dozenal, they repeat like a soap opera

and for aesthetic reasons, those repeating decimals
are worth the decimal base around

the map would have to change if we went from ten to twelve

the old road from Fargo to Bismarck would be called X
the current road from Willmar to Aberdeen would be called 10
the current artery from Minneapolis to Billings would be 7X
the current artery from Kansas City to Pembina would be 25
the current artery from Sioux Falls to Rapid City would be 76
the current artery from Portland to Salt Lake City would be 70

the people driving in and around Denver would be saying
that the incomprehensible ones stole their highway numbers

in other words, change is reprehensible for most people

we are staying with our customary measurements
we are staying with our decimal bias

ten is logically satisfying as George Carlin once said

the dozenal-advocating few might just have to deal with that

Reviews

[Hayley]

I had to laugh a little. Oh, America. Do we make it easier or more complicated?
Then again, do we fix something that isn't broken?
Well, we're all a little broken.
Thought-provoking piece!

[Kenneth The Poet]

Thanks, Hayley. Greatly appreciate it.

[kublakhan27]

I think serah summed it up best...a unique and thought-provoking piece for sure.

[Kenneth The Poet]

Thanks, KK.

[.]

~ what a fascinating and insightful piece of writing, monsieur ken... i didn't even think about the dozenal system before now... ~ perhaps we are creatures of habit... or, perhaps it's just easier to multiply something with ten... or divide it by ten... or add ten or subtract ten... takes less time and less thought... i dunno... just thinkin' aloud after reading this piece...

[Kenneth The Poet]

Thanks as always, Serah.

[.]

~ you're very welcome, monsieur...

[Robin]

some how it still all measures up ...

good to see you take words into another realm

[Kenneth The Poet]

Thanks, Robin. Glad you like it.