What If 7 Really Did Eat 9?

If you are like me, you have pondered this question countless amounts of times. The age old question: “Why is 6 afraid of 7?” is asked by every school-aged child (and has even been used in a number of movies and other types of media throughout the years), and it could be considered as one of the lamest jokes in existence.

But have you actually considered where we would be in life if the number 7 was a cannibal, stopping the number line at 8? Would everything cost 8 cents or less? Would our day be ruled by an 8-second hour? (That would certainly make for a short day with only 8 hours available, but yet the calendar could never go above 8 days so a shortened month would mean the necessity to come up with a variety of new months to consider…and what about getting past year number 8?)

Would it always be cold because the thermometer could not climb above 8 degrees? (Sort of like New York in January). Units of measure all across the board would be affected. The world would also reduce the obesity problem, as everyone would be a size 8 or less.

The book “Chicka Chicka 1,2,3” ( a favorite of my kids) would either not exist or would be a two page classic. In fact, any book would be much shorter being limited to only 8 pages. Crazy, I know, but the next time my kids pose this question to me I may have to ask them to think about it long and hard before they joke about such a horrific event. If after coming to the same conclusions I have they still think it’s funny, then so be it…they must have as warped a sense of humor as I do.