How many beans make five?

[upinaballoon]

Just that. How many beans make five? I was taught two answers to the question. I wondered if anyone else had other answers or whether it's not even asked nowadays.

Two beans and a bean, a bean and a half and half a bean

Mine is almost exactly the same as this:

Two beans,
A bean,
One and a half,
And half a bean

And yes, it has to be said to a specific rhythm with a pause at the end of the second line!

Two beans and a bean a bean and a half and half a bean of course

A small casserole-worth?

Bean, bean and a half, half a bean, bean and a half, half a bean.

Is the only correct answer.

I have only ever heard this in this song:

what on earth does it mean?

Never heard this but surely it's "some beans and some beans"?

Or this! 😁

A bean and a half, a bean and a half, half a bean and a bean and a half of course.

42

My dad used to ask me this as a child. The answer is 5

I love this thread 😂 I have no idea what any of you are on about - I am a 70s child. But love that you all knew straightaway! Brightened my day 😀

I was taught
A bean, a bean, a bean and a half, a bean and half a bean

Two in each hand and one in the mouth but I don’t know where I learned it

Google says
In “How many beans make five?” the latest of the pungent Post-War Questions series of booklets Lord Perry points out that in our ordinary usage when we say of a man that he knows how many beans make five we mean that he is alert, commonsensical, adaptable and up to date, a man with all his buttons on, and with no screws loose.

2+2=5

Going back to my schooldays.
Two in each hand and one up your arse.
We lacked a little refinement.
😉😁😁.

A bean and a half, a bean and a half, half a bean and a bean and a half.

I thought this was going to be a cost of living thread 🤣

enough to feed a MN family for a week - dinners and lunches

The whole song was
"How many beans make five boys,
How many beans make five
A bean and a half,
a bean and a half
Half a bean and a bean and a half"
My grandad used to play it on a wooden flute in a marching band. Born in 1894

I have no idea what you are talking about and even less about the answer 🤣

Two beans, a bean, a half a bean, and a bean and a half make five.

Said in a very specific rhythm

A bean, a bean, a bean and a half, half a bean and a bean

Thank you!!!