Twelve

Now, if you have been watching the re-make of the 1960s cult movie 'The Village' - you would have been sucked into the number/name calling of '2', '6', '313', '11-12' of the lead characters. Who is '2', who is '6', where do they come from?...

We came across a phrase 'twelve' in Perth. Now, I'm not convinced that the term 'twelve' refers to '12 years old' when talking about a person.

The first encounter was on a bus going to view a rental apartment. We got on the bus, and a lady and her daughter were in front of us. Now they seemed to be quite new to Perth, as they were fumbling around and looking unsure of things. I overheard the lady ask the bus driver for 1 adult and 1 concession ticket. Now concessions, as you can gather, are for students or for OAPS. The bus driver looked at her daughter - now I would have done as well, as the daughter was dressed in a thin white t-shirt with a conspicuous red bra underneath, with a low slung hipster mini skirt on. Seeing the bus driver double checking the age of the daughter, the lady replied 'she's twelve'. Now what mother would allow her 12 year old daughter to dress like that?!

The other encounter was on the train going to Freemantle. There were a group of girls who looked between 14-16 years old. They were talking really loudly and we couldn't help but overhear what they were talking about. As young girls they were talking about fashion, bitching about other girls, and of course, boys. On the topic of boys, one of the girls was talking about fancying a guy in the SAS, and he said he'd go out with her when she turns 12. Now, am I showing my age, or is 12 too young an age to be going out with someone?...

Surely '12' does not mean '12 years old'? So the question, is who or what is 12?....