Blogtrek

District 77

What are numbers used for? 0 represents nothing. 1 represents unity, a single, alone object. 2 represents a pair, a duo, polarity. 3 is a triangle. And then we have 4, 5, and so forth. What do we use them for? We say that there are 3 apples on the chair. We say there are 4 apples on the table. So there are 3 + 4 or 7 apples in the room. We also talk about the fullback on the football team, Number 18, and the right tackle, Number 9. The quarterback is number 27, so does it mean anything when we say that if we add the right tackle to the fullback, we get the quarterback? No, that's not the intended meaning of these numbers. These numbers are more like labels, helping us to tell the players apart. We could have very well used letters, such as I, R, and Z for the players. We call these numbers nominal, as the expression 9 + 18 = 27 is meaningless for football jersey numbers, and even the expression 18 < 27 (the right tackle is less than the quarterback) is nonsense. The numbers are simply labels.

But maybe not always. Toastmasters District 48 comprises clubs in central and northern Alabama. District 29 is on the Gulf Coast: northern Florida, southern Alabama, and southern Mississippi. Toastmasters International for next year has combined these two districts into a single district. What are they going to call the new District? They are going to call it District 77. I note that 29 + 48 = 77. So, Toastmasters, can we add District numbers? It certainly is a neat way of remembering the new district number. Why not go all the way and get The Number of Toastmasters? Add all the district numbers together and get F + 3003. One of the districts is labeled "F". If we take F = 0 (it is the zeroth district, which makes it firster than the first district), then The Toastmaster Number is 3003. The slogan for this year should have been "3003 in 2003!" Of course it still does not make sense, even if 29 + 48 = 77. You see, 77 is the next number to give to a district: there are 77 districts, including F. That's why it was selected.