The website focuses on the recurrent and significant patterns of the number three in various aspects of human culture, such as art, business, entertainment, food, literature, nature and religion. From ‘The Rule of Threes’ in public relations, Isaac Newton’s first color wheel, to the concept of ‘Trinity’ in Christianity, the blog explores the pervasive influence of the number three in our lives.
Admin | The book of threes
Allusions
Allusions are colorful references that add richness and vitality to our language. Do you know what the Iron Triangle is? The third rail? Thin red line? Read on . . .
Art – Design
We use threes in art to define structures like primary, secondary and tertiary colors on a color wheel. Sir Isaac Newton developed the first color wheel in 1666. The three Greek column classifications are Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.
Business – Economics
The three principal ways of organizing a business are: as a sole proprietorship, as a partnership, or as a corporation. There are three major types of bankruptcy proceedings. A classic public relations technique is call The Rule of Threes.
Colloquialisms
Definition: an informal word or expression which is more suitable for use in speech than in writing Here you will find “old wives tales”, superstitions and famous sayings. From “Three is the Magic Number” to language “hooks” like “of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Entertainment
“Lights, Camera, Action”.
Food – Nutrition
Did you know bananas are in threes? For centuries in England, the “plowman’s lunch” was associated with farm laborers who ate a midday meal of bread, cheese, pickled onions, and a drink consisting of beer. Today, this is a popular lunch served in British pubs.
History – Politics
A bark is a sailing vessel with three masts. The three large British White Star liners “Titanic,” “Olympic” and “Britannic” were the largest ships afloat for over twenty years between 1913 and 1935. Who were The Big Three during World War II?
Humor
Humor uses threes as the completion to a joke. “The Rule of Three” is part of the formula. Many stories have you heard start out, “There was a priest, a minister and a rabbi … .” Three characters seems to work well when you are populating your own stories to make them funnier.
Idioms
Idioms are expressions with greater meaning. Phrases like “nick of time” or “in other words” or “for heaven’s sake”. Definition: a group of words in a fixed order that have a particular meaning that is different from the meanings of each word understood on its own:
Language
Language is based in threes. Sender, message, receiver. Subject verb object. A language involves a semantic system, a phonological system, and a syntactic system. Phonetics study the sounds of languages from three basic points of view.
Literature
In any type of writing, there are three possible points of view: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, or me, you, and other. There are three periods of the English language’s history: Old, Middle, and Modern. And dramas traditionally have three parts: prot asis, epitasis, and catastrophe.
Music – Theater
Be not afraid of greatness:some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. – From Act II, Scene V of “Twelfth Night” by William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
Nature
Nature is filled with threes. Land, sea, and air. People propagate many plants by three chief methods. These methods are: (1) cuttage, (2) grafting, and (3) layering. Forests a catagirized into three major groups: (1) coniferous forests, (2) temperate deciduous forests, and (3) tropical rain forests.
Philosophy
The quest for greater unity and truth is achieved by the famous dialectic, positing something (thesis), denying it (antithesis), and combining the two half-truths (synthesis) which contains a greater portion of truth in its complexity.
Mathematics
Mathematics uses many concepts in threes. The first structure mathematically is a triangle. There are acute, right, and obtuse angles. Trigonometry is the study of the relationship of the sides of a triangle. Have your heard of Pascal’s Triangle?
Mythology
From the Three Graces to the Three Fates to the Three Furies,
Quotations
Yadda, yadda, yadda
Religion
Religion is filled with descriptions involving threes. The Father, Son and Holy Ghost are the trinity that make up God in the Christian Faith. Peter did forsake Jesus three times. After three days Chris rose from the dead. To the right is Christ at age 33.
Science
Sir Isaac Netwotn’s three laws of motion. Three states of matter (solid, liquid, gas). We live on the third rock from the sun. Our metric system of measurement uses metre, litre, and gram. Morse code is a reliable system as the signal is made up of only three parts – a long ‘on’, the dash; a short ‘on’, the dot; and an ‘off’ signal. Do you know what SOS means in Morse code?
Sports
Sports include many games structured in threes. In baseball, there are three strikes and you are out, three outs to an inning, and a trinity of trinities (3X3), in other words, 9 innings. Do you know about “Tinker to Evers to Chance?” Pictured to the right is none other than Joe Dimaggio.
