Check out this link to the disorders here on PC:
http://psychcentral.com/disorders/ocd/

You are correct....OCD comes in many forms.....OCD is when there anything becomes an obcession that has to be done that isn't a normally done by people. It can take mild forms.....like my friend who can't leave her house or even the business she has without checking everything....the coffee maker, the door lock, the alarm system.....then she checkes it again....& again & again.....just to make sure it was done.

Your husband is right about it usually being about germs & cleanliness, but it's also about anything that people do over & over & over again like the counting you are describing here. There is a movie out about Howard Hughes (I think it's the Aviator). He was totally OCD & the movie shows all the ways that the OCD showed up in his life....might be an interesting movie for your husband to watch.

It is also something that is inherited, so just because it doesn't show up in the same was as him Mother or grandmother, the fact of their having OCD is definitely a good indication that he is dealing with it also....just that is has taken a different form with him.

Hope you can convince him to seek some help.....of course, if it is something that isn't really effecting his life or your life together, then it really isn't a problem....but if it is.....then it's something that really needs to be handled.

Hopefully you will be able to sort through it with him,
Debbie