Here is a site worth a quick browse, giving items occurring in sets

http://www.alt-usage-english.org/ucle/ucle7.html

They left a bunch of stuff out of the threes category: the three bears, the three billy goats gruff. From the Bible we have surely, goodness and mercy; love, hope and charity. In the business world Salomon, Smith, Barney. Then we have Borders, Books and Music. There's Aber, Crombie and Fitch. The priest, the minister and the rabbi that figure in so many jokes. We talk about the ABCs of something, meaning the basics. The list is endless.

> endless

to say nothing preferably! about the father, the son, and the wholly goat ;)

Mon Dieu, the billy goats gruff...how did that go again. I have a vague memory niggling at my brain - a primary school thing - so you know it is loooooong ago

Billy Goats Gruff? Something about a troll under a bridge, I think...

troll

Leave it to the Norsewoman to know about trolls! They are a common sight in my (Norwegian) in-laws' place! (OK, not real trolls, but drawings, statues, carvings...and most recently, a photo of the in-laws themselves with a life-sized one!)

Winken,Blinken and Nod. Can't remember who they were.
The butcher, the baker, the candlestickmaker. Cast them out all three.

Here's URL to the nursery rhyme:http://www.starstogether.tierranet.com/kids/winken.htm

winken blinken and nod, a poem by eugene field..
winken and blinken are two little eyes,
and nod is a little head..

Oh, here is the whole thing (once i knew it all by heart, but now i only remember i have a little shadow by RLS

Winken, Blinken, and Nod one night
Sailed off in a wooden shoe --
Sailed off on a river of crystal light,
Into a sea of dew.
"Where are you going, and what do you wish?"
The old moon asked the three.
"We have come to fish for the herring fish
That live in the beautiful sea;
Nets of silver and gold have we!"


Said Winken,
Blinken,
And Nod.
The old moon laughed and sang a song,
As they rocked in the wooden shoe,
And the wind that sped them al night long
Ruffled the waves of dew.
The little stars were the herring fish
That lived in the beautiful sea --
"Now cast your nets wherever you wish --
Never afeard are we";
So cried the stars to the fisherman three:

Winken,
Blinken,
And Nod.
All night long their nets they threw
To the stars in the twinkling foam --
Then down from the skies came the wooden shoe
Bringing the fisherman home;
'Twas all so pretty a sail it seemed
As if it could not be,
And some folks thought 'twas a dream they'd dreamed
Of sailing that beautiful sea --
But I shall name you the fishermen three:


Winken,
Blinken,
And Nod.
Winken and Blinken are two little eyes,
And Nod is a little head,
And the wooden shoes that sailed the skies
Is the wee one's trundle-bed.
So shut your eyes while mother sings
Of wonderful sights that be,
And you shall see the beautiful things
As you rock in the misty sea,
Where the old shoe rocked hte fisherman three:

Winken,
Blinken,
And Nod.

Billy Goats Gruff? Something about a troll under a bridge, I think...

Trip trap, trip trap came the biggest billy goat gruff. He was the one who tossed the troll off the bridge, as he proved too big for the troll to eat.

Three blind mice?

Inchmee and Pinchmee went down to the river. Inchmee fell in. Who was left to save him?
getting my thumb and fore finger ready...

Dear musck: Inchmee and Pinchmee baffled search attempts.

When I was ten, I was puzzled by little half-dollar sized aluminum containers seen in the gutter that said on the lid: Three Merry Widows, Agnes, Mabel, and Becky.

It used to be a merry prank to put one of the Three Merry Widows over tailpipe of a parked car. When owner started motor, back pressure made it misbehave, while an obscened apparition was thrashing around until it burst, behind the automobile.

Geez, Dr. Bill, and all this time I thought you were talking about tins of chewing tobacco. [ahem]

In twos they gave Beulah's ass. Parm my beg to differmints, but wasn't that Balaam's ass?

Dear Faldage: Diligent search revealed no citations of Beulah's Ass, only Beulah Land.

I disremember Sunday School joke about the stretchiest man in the Bible, who tied his ass to a tree and walked fifty miles.

...put one of the Three Merry Widows over tailpipe of a parked car...

I ain't touchin' that with an eleven foot pole (ours go to eleven).

Dear Musick: It must have been terribly uncomfortable for her.

And this grouping that follows would never appear on anybody's list 'cept mine, but I do think of this triad:

alacrity, celerity, legerity

That is truly fascinating. Thanks for coming up with that.

our minister always referred to the Father, the Son and the holy Spigot

Daddy-O, Junior, and Spook

And on the more general subject of triads:
the three Furies: Tisiphone (avenger of murder), Megaera (the jealous one), and Alecto (unceasing in anger).
the three judges of the Underworld: Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Aeacus.
the three witches of Macbeth
the Olympic motto: Citius, altius, fortius ("faster, higher, stronger")

http://wordsmith.org/board/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=words&Number=5108&Search=true&Forum=All_Forums&Words=goalie host&Match=Entire Phrase&Searchpage=0&Limit=25&Old=allposts

TEd, you have committed the "widening the window" crime. I've done it, most of us have. Here's all you need (courtesy of tsuwm, who taught me):

http://wordsmith.org/board/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=words&Number=5108

edit: oops, redone so it works

I ain't touchin' that with an eleven foot pole (ours go to eleven).

Designed by Spinal Tap, were they?

CapK - Of course!

Four Score - How much?
Pieces of Eight - Where does this come from?

> And on the more general subject of triads:

An extract from a poem I wrote to my wife, years ago, on our first Valentine's Day as parents:

Our wedding: one and one makes one;
Our baby: one and one makes three.

fourscore = 80 Gettysburg address


This problem was critical as it adversely affected local commerce and forced
the colonists to turn to foreign coins, primarily Spanish American silver produced
in Mexico and Peru. The most widely used coin in the colonies was the eight reales
(piece of eight), primarily clipped underweight examples that had made their way
north from Mexico through the Bahamas. The eight reales
was the highes unit of Spanish silver in the New World, similar in size and weight
to the thalers of the various German states, the French écu, the Portuguese
cruzado and the ducatoon of Holland; colonists called the eight reales coin
a "dollar," from the Dutch"daalder" (a derivative of the German thaler).

and the eight reales was sometimes clipped at Dr. Bill points out..it was also quartered, and today, some US's will still call a a quarter "two bits". left over slang, put to new purpose.

Cool, Helen and Bill!

Reales and bits. I'll bet that shave and a haircut--two bits jingle has troubled many a mind for its deep hidden meaning, huh?

not to mention the phrase two-bit whore. [ -- but word-related]

not to mention the phrase two-bit whore.

Does this refer to the woman on the home fix-up show on PBS who has a drill in each hand, and sells her services?

Eight reindeer. I know, I know...Rudolph makes nine....but he's not a part of the original myth.

Rudolph ... he's not a part of the original myth.

Created as an advertising icon for Montgomery Ward's, I believe.

Depending upon source:

Dasher
Dancer
Prancer
Vixen
Comet
Cupid
Donner
Blitzen

Or the same list except Donner is Donder.

Depends upon whether you're singing the song or reciting the poem.

Just for the record...

Have we all forgotten Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young?

And the Tolkien fan that I am, I think of the 13 dwarves... let me try this without help... Thorin Oakenshield, Fili and Kili, Dori, Nori, and Ori, Bifur, Bofur and Bombur, Oin and Gloin, Dwalin and Balin [yay! i did it!]

We had two little fish once names Fili and Kili. We also had a mexican fighting fish names Smaug. One morning, there was no Fili or Kili...

alexis

> One morning, there was no Fili or Kili...

awww! turned into fillet and killit...

now jist howd'we pernunce that fill-ay word agin...?