How many is this?
 

If you are asked to "put 1 in the middle and 2 on either side" how many widgets is that in total.

Keep in mind, this was my wifes instructions.

Something I failed to take into account.

My guess is she meant a total of five ... no, make that three.

Wait, may I guess again ... ?

_

Are you talking about placement of items?

If your wife is like my mother, that is 54.

If we're counting units, my brain says '5' total.

II - I - II

I was rehanging the floor to ceiling curtains in my office.

They had been taken down for cleaning a few months back.

It requires me to clear off my desk and place a ladder on it and get on basically the top step to to reach the rod. Not a fun place to be.

I remarked that "there are 5 panels, why do we have 5? I thought it was 4?"

She said, there is one in the middle.

OK, but why 5 when 3 was enough? I really don't want to hang 5 of these things.

That's when she said OK, put one in the middle and two on either side so my brain heard "cool, I only have to risk my life 3/5ths as long"

Apparently my life is worth two more panels to her.

female double talk.\

the answer is two.

Kind of like the old............. two ducks in front of two ducks, two ducks behind two ducks, two ducks in between, how many ducks?

sounds like 5 to me.

Sounds like you need a new ladder too.

logically, that's 6.

Of course it’s three. :)

Either side. One side or the other, so this is "2".

"one in the middle and one on both sides" would be 3.

That is the qualifier which implies three rows of two on either side.

I blame old Britain for our language inconsistency.
0 vs O?
(or is that zero/oh/zed/null)
33 other meanings for null: https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/null

The dress is white and the train arrives at 6:42 PM.

If my wife had uttered these exact words/instructions, she CERTAINLY would have MEANT three widgets total. Precision of language is NOT her strong suit...but, hey, she has others...:D

At least she doesn't say "Left, LEFT, no that Left." While pointing right.

Did you tell her that's the Sumo stance, with the chingadera in the middle?

Females in my family tend to indicate left by bouncing a pointy finger off the side of my skull or face in the middle of a turn.
And then I become the irrational one.

Two hundred and Twelve

snow tires