Yeah, Ted, that's how we folk dancers always counted the 7/8 and other irregular beats, e.g, "Slow, quick-quick." Of course your a 4/4 syncopated beat can also be counted "slow, quick-quick." But as you're learning a dance or the music for it, you easily come to "feel" the difference between a 2-beat and a 3-beat "slow."

Even the more unusual rhythms like 9/16 are fairly easy to commit to "muscle memory" when counted out that way.   Once I get the feel for a rhythm I seldom have to resort to counting.