“One Mississippi, Two Mississippi”: In Other Countries

If you’re having a low-stakes kind of day, this might be the most delightfully useless but hilarious thing you’ll see: someone on Reddit asked non-Americans what their version of “One Mississippi, Two Mississippi” is… and the responses did not disappoint.

These playful phrases, often used by kids to count seconds during games like hide-and-seek, vary wildly depending on where you’re from. But the creativity? Universal. Let’s take a scenic world tour of weird and wonderful second-counting traditions.

In Denmark, they apparently count beers: “One case of beer, two cases of beer…” Not exactly playground material, but A+ for local flair.

Scotland goes full safari with “One elephant, two elephant,” while up in Canada, it’s a toss-up between “One hippopotamus” and “One steamboat.”

In Brazil, kids say “Um indiozinho, dois indiozinhos,” which translates to “One little Indigenous kid, two little Indigenous kids.” India opts for “Tick tick one, tick tick two,” which sounds like it could double as a suspense-building sound effect. Meanwhile, China gets rhythmic with, “1-2-3-4, 2-2-3-4…” and repeats up to ten before looping back.

Aussies might say, “One cat and dog, two cat and dog,” although one local insisted they’ve never heard that in their life… so it may just be folklore at this point. Mexicans take a minimalist approach with a calm, deliberate “Uno… dos… tres…”

One resident of Mississippi admitted that growing up there, they thought everyone just used the name of their own state. So “One North Carolina, Two North Carolina”?

And finally, a shout-out to the South African who used “One Mississippi” . . . without even knowing what or where “Mississippi” was.

So no, it won’t solve any of the world’s problems. But it might make your next round of hide-and-seek a little more international.