Comment on Fucking hell

FilthyShrooms@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

• rumba@lemmy.zip ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Ehh, i’m not giving France a pass either.

  The answer to 100 - 8 should not be four twenties and a twelve. We’re counting, not making change.

  French counting is bunk. Way, Way, better then Denmark though apparently

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  • Nariom@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    the thing nobody mentions is that the 4x20 part became a word that just means 80 in people’s mind, it kinda not literal anymore, but the Swiss and Belgian ways are still better

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    • rumba@lemmy.zip ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      e a word that just means 80 in people’s mind, it kinda not literal anymore, but the Swiss and Belgian ways are still better (edit the 4x20+10 is s

      And if it was 28 syllables, it would still be 80 in people’s minds. But the words are still four twenty eight for what could easily just be nine eight.

      I get it, but it is really inefficient for something as oft used as counting.

      If it makes you feel better, English is full of crap like that which doesn’t make any sense and I’ll own that as a trash language :)

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      • Nariom@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Yeah that’s why i say the Belgian and Swiss ways are better, their French speakers have dedicated words for 70 80 90. That being said I not sure but I guess in a lot of languages those words just mean 7x10 8x10 9x10 … we understand base 10 better but that’s still a calculation in disguise, historically (and still in some cultures?) base 10 isn’t the norm (hence the 4x20 among others).

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    • vandsjov@feddit.dk ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Most Danes does not know how 92 is constructed - it is just as picture one, second calculation: 2 and halvfems = 92.

      However, I do feel like we’re using Imperial unites.

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    • SpongyAneurism@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      (edit the 4x20+10 is similarly just 90)

      I can let you get away with the first part about 4x20 just becoming the word for 80, but with this one, you’re just fooling yourself and others.

      If it were just another word for ninety, than ninety-two would be (4x20+10)+2 instead of 4x20+12 And it works that way up to 96.

      Just stop making excuses and own the weirdness.

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      • Nariom@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        … I would say that’s more about 10 and 12 having their on words, we don’t say ten two, it’s a bit of a shortcut? Then after 16 we stopped caring and didn’t make new words, sticked to 10 7, 10 8, 10 9 for some reason, that IS weird. Unless you take into account that base 10 wasn’t always the norm and maybe it made sense to have dedicated words for numbers up to 12 or 16 because they were commonly used quantities or alternative counting bases idk. See I can find (blurry memories of, needs sources) good reasons ;p

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• vandsjov@feddit.dk ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I think the first picture jumps over a little bit of calculation:

  9 x 10 + 2

  2 + 9 x 10

  p.s. The third one makes total sense!

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