four-twenty-ten

[Masquerouge]

Recently I realized that the way French people count is really strange.

Everything is fine until sixty: soixante is exactly the same construction as sixty, take six and add something to signify it's actually 6 times 10.
But then instead of the equivalent of seventy, we have soixante-dix, literally sixty-ten.
After that, eighty is quatre-vingts, meaning four-twenty.
And ninety is quatre-vingt-dix, meaning four-twenty-ten.

What's strange is that in Belgium, another French-speaking country, they use septante, octante and nonante for 70, 80 and 90, and that makes much more sense since it's like seventy, eighty and ninety.

I know that English has something equivalent to it, "scores", "three scores" meaning sixty, but I've never heard of it outside of Tolkien and its darn funny words (barrow-wights).

So, is your language "rational" or twisted? Do you pronounce 70 seventy, three-twenty-ten, sixty-ten or something else?

 

[nc-1701]

Recently I realized that the way French people count is really strange.

Everything is fine until sixty: soixante is exactly the same construction as sixty, take six and add something to signify it's actually 6 times 10.
But then instead of the equivalent of seventy, we have soixante-dix, literally sixty-ten.
After that, eighty is quatre-vingts, meaning four-twenty.
And ninety is quatre-vingt-dix, meaning four-twenty-ten.

What's strange is that in Belgium, another French-speaking country, they use septante, octante and nonante for 70, 80 and 90, and that makes much more sense since it's like seventy, eighty and ninety.

I know that English has something equivalent to it, "scores", "three scores" meaning sixty, but I've never heard of it outside of Tolkien and its darn funny words (barrow-wights).

So, is your language "rational" or twisted? Do you pronounce 70 seventy, three-twenty-ten, sixty-ten or something else?

Well I speak english so ten, twenty, thirty, fourty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety, and one-hundred.

A score is 20 but not used except in things like tolkien etc. A dozen is twelve.

 

[El_Machinae]

Actually, you'll note that (despite being base 10), English has the first 12 numbers having unique names, the first 10 following the same pattern as the rest of the numbers.

Eleven and Twelve just sit there, dissing the consensus.

 

[Rossiya]

In English we say "burst into tears". Nothing actually "bursts", neither does it "burst into".

 

[GinandTonic]

Really wirded me out at school. Three twenties, ten and eight. Complex way of saying seventy eight.

Oh and outside of tolkien - shakespeare three score years and ten would be a well known example.

 

[Masquerouge]

Actually, you'll note that (despite being base 10), English has the first 12 numbers having unique names, the first 10 following the same pattern as the rest of the numbers.

Eleven and Twelve just sit there, dissing the consensus.

We have the equivalent of eleven and twelve, onze and douze.
Then 13 to 16 is treize, quatorze, quinze, seize, and it's only at 17, dix-sept, that we go back to ten-seven.

 

[nonconformist]

Eh, we've got a baker's dozen.

 

[Masquerouge]

Really wirded me out at school. Three twenties, ten and eight. Complex way of saying seventy eight.

mmmh that would be sixty-ten eight, if you're refering to French

Oh and outside of tolkien - shakespeare three score years and ten would be a well known example.

I thought so, but I read way more Tolkien than Shakespeare...

 

[Phlegmak]

So, is your language "rational" or twisted? Do you pronounce 70 seventy, three-twenty-ten, sixty-ten or something else?

English is the stupidest language in the universe.

And Abraham Lincoln said "Four score and seven years ago."

 

[Masquerouge]

English is the stupidest language in the universe.

Nu-uh. Any languages with declensions is worse.

 

[JonnyB]

English is the stupidest language in the universe.

And Abraham Lincoln said "Four score and seven years ago."

But was that a common way to cite the number? Or was he just being poetic?

 

[ironduck]

Numbers are similarly weird in Danish.. 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 follow a funky pattern that goes like this: half three (2&#189 times twenty, three times twenty, half four (3&#189 times twenty, four times twenty, half five (4&#189 times twenty.. it's so archaic that the position of words are inverted relative to modern Danish (which would say three-and-a-half).. most people don't know that the numbers work like this because they're contracted on top of it so it's almost impossible to decipher..

 

[Irish Caesar]

But was that a common way to cite the number? Or was he just being poetic?

He was just being poetic.

 

[Masquerouge]

Numbers are similarly weird in Danish.. 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 follow a funky pattern that goes like this: half three (2½) times twenty, three times twenty, half four (3½) times twenty, four times twenty, half five (4½) times twenty.. it's so archaic that the position of words are inverted relative to modern Danish (which would say three-and-a-half).. most people don't know that the numbers work like this because they're contracted on top of it so it's almost impossible to decipher..

Wow! Looks like the Danes get the award! Having half numbers is really painful...

 

[ironduck]

English is the stupidest language in the universe.

English is so nice and easy in terms of grammar.

 

[ironduck]

Wow! Looks like the Danes get the award! Having half numbers is really painful...

Yeah, but it doesn't really matter because they're just words that are remembered.. they make no sense whatsoever in terms of trying to figure them out, but it's only five extra words to remember, so it's not so bad - really confuses our Scandinavian neighbours though!

 

[Dionysius]

<purged.>

 

[ironduck]

Wow, those numbers are very Germanic! With a twist of Latin..

 

[Masquerouge]

Wow, those numbers are very Germanic! With a twist of Latin..

Really? Vier and Ceathair? Funf and Chuig?

 

[Paradigne]

We have the equivalent of eleven and twelve, onze and douze.
Then 13 to 16 is treize, quatorze, quinze, seize, and it's only at 17, dix-sept, that we go back to ten-seven.

Is that italian?? It's very similar to spanish. Germany does similar with eleven and twelve being different then 13 being 3-10...

Unfortunately what I do know is spoken (and badly) so I won't be spelling it...

Funny sidebar: Most of my mexican friends never realized that Adios (goodbye) is just a contraction of to (a) and God (dios)