this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2023
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I don’t want to hear shit about what order we write numbers in from a continent where numbers include one hundred nine and thirty to mean 139, or three twenties ten and nine for 79
If you're so mad at Fr*nch and German numbers, don't look up Danish numbers. Unless you can guess what "five and half five's". Did you guess 95? Why would you?
How‽
It's a twenty based system. "Two's" is 40, "three's" is 60, ...
50 is "halfway to 60" so it's "half three's", likewise "half four's" for 70, "four's" for 80 and "half five's" for 90. 100 is its own word so "half five's" exists but "five's" doesn't.
Seventeen is 7+10 (seven+teen) but twenty one is 20+1 (twenty+one)
If English was more consistent, seventeen would be ten seven.
If it was really consistent, it would be something like onety seven but not really either, since it's also not twoty seven.
PS: Eleven would be onety one.