[apostlion]

Why would a culture that has no trade need numbers? Approximate buckets are good enough for the hunter-gatherer lifestyle.

After all, it were Sumerian traders and bureaucrats who gave us both figures -and- numbers -and- a way to write them down.

[curiousdannii]

"How many children/pigs/dogs are in the house? Did we forget any?"

[petsos]

Did we forget any to our way to the mall maybe? Animals seem to be able to handle their young ones without counting them too.

[adamnemecek]

Yeah, or alternatively how many wolves are approaching? It seems like it would be advantageous to be able to communicate whether 5 or 50.

[apostlion]

Fuzzy buckets are wonderful for exactly this kind of case. If you're alone, it doesn't matter whether there are 5 or 50 wolves - you're fucked anyway.

On the other hand, if you're a scout for an armed band of hunters, 5 are no longer “a lot”, it is “some” - and 50 is a lot.

[petsos]

What would you do differently if it was 5 or 8 wolves? Having concepts like "a few" and "a lot" seems to be enough for this case.

[prof_hobart]

Decide whether to send one or two of your group of 8 hunters after each of the wolves?

[pavel_lishin]

That seems to be where the distinction between hói and hoí would come in.

[Theodores]

Three.

You must be referring to the legendary 3 Wolf T-Shirt available on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Original-Three-Wolf-Adult-T-Shirt/dp...

Just get the T-Shirt and read the reviews - famously funny.

There aren't any wolves in the Amazon rainforest - not enough bins for them to go through, apparently.