Life in progress

How Many Bugs in a Box – Stream of Consciousness Saturday (Question)

35 Comments

“How many bugs in a box?” It’s a stupid little song that has been going through my head for years. When I’ve finished writing this post (because I don’t want to stop) I’ll look it up and if I can, insert it so that everyone can be tormented by it.

It’s from an animated game for the computer that my kids used to play when they were little. The game was called “How Many Bugs in a Box” and it was a counting/math/number/pattern recognition game. Why am I writing about this? Because every time – and I mean EVERY SINGLE TIME – I try to write a blog post I think of that sentence. The question has been plaguing me now for around fifteen years. Fifteen years of wondering how many bugs are in the damned box!

Why is it that songs get stuck in our heads, anyway? There’s a name for it now: ear worm. Usually it lasts a morning, or a few hours after we either think of a song or hear it after not having heard it for a long time. It doesn’t usually happen – at least in my experience – when it’s something that’s on the radio or my playlist all the time. I think my worst ones to date have to be “C is for Cookie” by the Cookie Monster, or “The Song that Never Ends” by whatshername with the lamb puppet. (Holy crap, “whatshername” didn’t get a red squiggly line underneath it!)

Anyway, by finally writing “how many bugs in a box” in a blog post, I’m hoping to dispell the magic that keeps me wanting to come back to it. I’ll let you know if it worked in another post. Maybe in next week’s SoCS post.

(Phew! Got my Stream of Consciousness Saturday post in just in the nick of time!)

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Author: Linda G. Hill

There's a writer in here, clawing her way out.

35 thoughts on “How Many Bugs in a Box – Stream of Consciousness Saturday (Question)

  1. willowdot21's avatar

    I refuse to watch the video incase I get infected!! 😉 xxxxxx

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  2. LAMarcom's avatar

    I ain’t even gonna listen to this song: Got me enuff earworms already.
    😉
    Loved the post Linda.

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  3. joey's avatar

    I gave it a whirl, and I turned it off, because that is truly an unfortunate earworm. I find commercials from television find their way into my head. Although I rarely watch them, I hear them. Recently, I’ve wondered where a song in my head would come from, only to see it on the television. Which is all the more reason the other people in my house should watch less television!

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  4. frannystevenson's avatar

    Oh I shouldn’t have listened to it…I’m doomed now! Using this comment to ask if you would like to participate to How do I write? Writing Process Blog Tour. i’m going to publish the post tomorrow and your turn will be on the next Monday! Can I mention you?

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  5. phoenixrisesagain's avatar

    I don’t dare to watch the video….. you know why :-)))

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  6. phoenixrisesagain's avatar

    Ear worm is a new English word? Ohrwurm (German translation) is a really old word where I come from. Funny that. I hope it works for you and you lose the song somehow. I have that strange thing that phrases or words bring up songs and out of nowhere I start singing, confusing people profoundly…. never mind 🙂 (Oh as an explanation. I started another wordpress acccount by accident. This one is my original one 🙂 its still me: the bee 😉 )

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  7. Private's avatar

    I’d never heard of that game and had never heard the song. Now I’ve heard of the game and I’ve heard the song. And I’m especially sorry to have heard that song. I’m going to go to bed tonight counting bugs in a box. Thank you very much.

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  8. Prior...'s avatar

    this was so fun – and ear-worm you say? that sound alike a fitting name for this experience – and my songs are different – but I have a list too! ha! what a fun post – and by the way, we used to have the pop-up book titled “how many bugs in a box” and it was a well-made pop-up that had art and allowed the kids to count and follow each page. Loved that little book – and did not know there was a song…. ha! but you sure knew…. haha = jk…

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  9. Michael's avatar

    Good Linda that you have been able to address this question as I imagine many parents would wonder the same. Enjoyed reading your frustration at this question. Well done.

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