1290 Three Ways

Why is our culture so conflicted when it comes to the number three? One second it’s bad, the next two seconds it’s good again. Maybe it’s because it’s an odd number or because dividing things up three ways never comes out even.
Try knocking down a third of the pins in bowling.
Doesn’t work. 3.333333, it’s just annoying.
We are definitely of two minds when it comes to threes. “Two’s company, three’s a crowd” tells us three can be a barrier to intimacy. But the whole obsession with ménage-a-trois suggests otherwise.
We say “third times a charm.” But then we turn right around and say someone is a three-time loser.
It takes four balls to end a time at the plate, but only three strikes. Lots of campers like the luxury of a third wheeler. But no one wants to be the third wheel at a social occasion.
When you say double-X, you usually think of a larger clothing size. When you say triple-X, it’s lack of clothing that comes to mind.
And what’s the whole deal in sports? What does the number three have to do with hat tricks? Is it the same hat they toss into the ring?
Trifecta I sort of get. You got your “tri”, which means three so you can guess that “fecta” means something Latin, like fact or accomplishment or something.
So if you catch a cold and the flu and get food poisoning, all at a Mariners Game, would that be a tri-infecta?
Finally, if you build three houses, people think you’re pretty good at it. If you successfully complete three marriages, people have a different opinion altogether.
For some reason, people don’t admire you for having enough X’s to win at tic-tac-toe.
America, ya gotta love it.