Vigesimal (ie. using multiples of 20 as base number) numeral systems are pretty common in the Celtic languages too, at least in the traditional numeral systems which are even more extensive than in French. Danish has a similar numeral system.
I lived in Switzerland for a time and was very much relived to find that Swiss French uses a real decimal numbering system. Septante, octante and nonante, as one might expect. Malachi, I prefer your reaction of humor; when I was learning French I threw a tantrum when I got to 70!
Lol, that reminds me of the time my dad was taking French classes and one day came home laughing. As the class struggled to comprehend the strange french number system the teacher complained that the Belgians were crazy as they used septante, octante and neufante - which the teacher thought was "tre complicated!"
If you have not seen this numberphile video, it has a good explanation of the linguistics of different languages concerning numbers. 58 and other Confusing Numbers - Numberphile https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4bmZ1gRqCc
If you think French is bad, meet Danish:
ReplyDeletehttp://satwcomic.com/just-a-number
I know, right? Also, Malachi, you already complained about French numbers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but that's OK. :-)
DeleteI figured it was funny enough to complain about twice! ^_^
DeleteAnd "halvfjerdsindstyvende" sounds like the name of some Lovecraftian beast out of hell
Vigesimal (ie. using multiples of 20 as base number) numeral systems are pretty common in the Celtic languages too, at least in the traditional numeral systems which are even more extensive than in French. Danish has a similar numeral system.
ReplyDeleteI propose we switch all languages to binary counting, after all we are living in the age of computers!
ReplyDeleteThere 10 types of people: Those who understand binary and those who don't.
I lived in Switzerland for a time and was very much relived to find that Swiss French uses a real decimal numbering system. Septante, octante and nonante, as one might expect. Malachi, I prefer your reaction of humor; when I was learning French I threw a tantrum when I got to 70!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.languagesandnumbers.com/how-to-count-in-french-switzerland/en/fra-che/
Bless the Swiss, may their numerals continue to be decimal-based and their fondues continue to be pungent and tasty.
DeleteLol, that reminds me of the time my dad was taking French classes and one day came home laughing. As the class struggled to comprehend the strange french number system the teacher complained that the Belgians were crazy as they used septante, octante and neufante - which the teacher thought was "tre complicated!"
ReplyDeleteDon't be ridiculous. It's sixty AND eleven!
ReplyDeletenice
ReplyDeleteIf you have not seen this numberphile video, it has a good explanation of the linguistics of different languages concerning numbers.
ReplyDelete58 and other Confusing Numbers - Numberphile
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4bmZ1gRqCc
This is great!
Delete