this post was submitted on 02 Feb 2024
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Katre-van-deez-nuts
Ha! Je les ai eu!
Context:
German:
- "siebenundneunzig"
- = "sevenandninety"
English:
- = "ninety-seven"
French:
- "quatre-vingt-dix-sept"
- = "four-twenty-ten-seven"
It's shit like that why I wonder people just don't update their languages, remove useless letters, nonsensical loan words exonyms, etc.
LOL, this kind of shit is what happens when people do try to police their language:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acad%C3%A9mie_Fran%C3%A7aise
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_qu%C3%A9b%C3%A9cois_de_la_langue_fran%C3%A7aise
... A dictionary? We already have those in English lol.
Oxford University Press doesn't have governmental enforcement powers the way the OQLF does.
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German did. And it worked. One of the reasons is probably that written German is uniform everywhere. I imagine language reformes are harder and less effective when dialects are still big.
We all do constantly with each word spoken. Language is updated without rest forever.
Like many things in life, languages aren't necessary logical but I'm looking forward to your efforts to finally get everyone into Esperanto!
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French Belgians 90 + 7
Same for Swiss French except for Geneva (of course).
Not to defend the French but the more correct representation would be 4 * 20 + 10 + 7.
Also if you take this meme to the extreme it would be best to just say “97” which requires a unique word for every number instead of a system to construct them. So I guess there is a balance to be struck in number composition.
also "ninety" is literally just a shortening of "nine ten", it's not like the french pronounce the whole thing either, i'd wager it usually comes out more like "katvandisett" which isn't much worse than "ninetyseven"
Actually we do prononce it entirely, at most dropping the first syllable
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Can't let this go by without posting this classic:
"We aren't all Eric Einstein!" 😂
80 (quatre-vingt) comes from the base 20 system. That's a vestige from pre indo-European languages (specifically the Gauls) that ended up influencing France.
Interestingly (if I'm not mistaken), in Switzerland they actually say "huitante" and in Belgium they say "octante".
In Wallonia ( french belgium ) you're also likely to hear "nonante" for 90 IIRC
The Gauls were Celtic, which is Indo-European. Maybe you meant "Pre-Romance"?
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And the French get offended if you use the wrong word. I went to a shop there and asked if something was ninety (there is a word for that). The shopkeeper gives me a scathing look and says with emphasis it's four twenty ten.
'Nonante' is used in the French-speaking part of Belgium, but it's generally frowned upon in France.
frowned upon
as in "you just wiped your ass with my language, my country and the history of my ancestors" it seems
They kind of stare at you as if you just farted in the most obscene way possible.
Or they passive-aggressively make you repeat what you said until you say it 'right'.
Or they reply in a kind of exaggerated broken English.
Not the ever so polite French!
I spent a lot of time in the country when I worked for a French owned company.
It's a beautiful country, too bad about the epidemic of sticks in their asses. I am so glad it hasn't spread to their neighbors.
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Japanese: 9*10+7
Ninety also means 9*10 since -Ty has its roots in the old Gothic word tigjus which means tens/decades https://www.etymonline.com/word/-ty
That Japanese is also 9*10 is not really surprising since counting in most languages is in base-10
Same with the German ‘zig’ which is also mentioned in your linked page. It’s also used elsewhere e.g. “zigfach” meaning many times.
Growing up bilingual in German and English, can I just say german's "7 + 90" is pretty dumb too.
397 is 300 + 7 + 90: 100s 1s 10s. For bigger numbers you're doing it repeatedly.
In German for every set you're saying the digits and tens in the wrong order. You get used to it, but only if you grow up in Germany (I didn't), else it forever does you head in reading numbers.
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🚫🤢fr*nch🤮🚫
XCVII
In old French, 127 was 6*20+7.
It's the fact of using base 20.
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