skip to content skip to search skip to navigation Listen Live skip to logon

Why do we go "one, two, three" when picking things up?

Question

Ariella, Boreham Wood: Why, when you are doing a manouver, you always do it on three e.g. "1,2,3 - lift"? Why not a,b,c etc?

 

Answer

**Definitive**

Name: Keith, Abbots Langley
Qualification: Just thinks he knows it
Answer: It goes back to the old days of the Royal Navy. Each cannon had a number of members with a task each. When the Gun Captain said "1,2,3" it was an instruction to each of the men to get hold of the ropes and pull.