Counting Sheep

Last night Dan and I were counting sheep in groups of twelve because we had just tried to create a list of '90s alternative rock and grunge bands for about twenty minutes, and our heads just kept on their search for band names. So we counted sheep in groups of twelve to get our minds on something else.

Midway through counting, Dan asks: "What kind of sheep do you picture when you count them? Do you see an actual sheep or one of those big fluffy cartoon ones?"

Laughter ensued, but he was serious. It is a really good question.

"I see those fluffy cartoon ones. What about you?"

"I see fluffy cartoon ones too, and they are jumping over a fence as I count them. What do your sheep do?"

"Nothing. They just float."

"Just float across your thoughts from left to right?"

"Yup."

"I see a big green field, and a white fence, and the sheep jump over it!"

"Mine are see-through, almost iridescent, and float."

"I probably got stuck on something I saw in a cartoon."

"You never know."

It may seem trivial, but I guess this is a pretty significant disclosure, on both of our parts, just to illuminate the fact that we may not envision the same thing, but have enough understanding to bridge this with communication. However, Google images shows tons of sheep jumping over fences - and it seems that the majority of the population envisions sheep jumping over a fence because of references in popular culture. The fact that Dan asked me what my sheep look like is especially considerate! Why I don't I envision a field with sheep in technicolor but a transparent outline of a sheep floating without context is something I may never know. There are also studies that show that some people don't envision sheep at all!

Time to sleep.