counting heads
Numbering the present
Counting heads is tallying people by the most visible part of their bodies.
The phrase emphasizes enumeration over identity—treating a group as a number rather than individuals: We're just counting heads to see if everyone's here.
Head counts determine attendance, capacity, or voting numbers.
- tallyRecorded count
- checkOrder to pay
- attendance trackingSystem noting participant presence
- quorumMinimum for valid proceedings
- warm bodiesAvailable human resources
bums in seats · enumeration · voting · polling · group · census · list · faces · inventory control · roll call · tabulation · muster · fire drill · capacity planning · crowd · event planning · ticket sales · number
identification method
counting headscalling roll
Verifying presence by name
face recognition · personal identification · biometric identification
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