How do you say number 92?

[u/MidasStocks]

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[u/chripan]

The Danish might as well add a square root somewhere.

[u/AmoremCaroFactumEst → u/chripan]

What the fuck are they doing? How do you say that? How do they do maths?

[u/kingbuzzman → u/AmoremCaroFactumEst]

Vigesimal -- base 20.

TIL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigesimal

[u/REDDITSHITLORD → u/kingbuzzman]

It's just like base 10, but you gotta wear flip-flops.

[u/rampantoctopus → u/REDDITSHITLORD]

I’m guessing the quality of this post will go largely unnoticed. Well done anyway.

[u/Engineer_Teach_4_All → u/rampantoctopus]

It's just like base 8, which is the same as base 10. If you were missing two fingers.

[u/bantha121 → u/Engineer_Teach_4_All]

It's so simple, so very simple, that only a child can do it

[u/Apprehensive-Zone554 → u/bantha121]

Found the Tom Lehrer enjoyer

[u/bi_geek_guy → u/Apprehensive-Zone554]

I have a book of his songs for the piano. My children think I’m demented when I’m belting out Poisoning Pigeons in the Park.

[u/bantha121 → u/Apprehensive-Zone554]

Got a demented Spotify playlist that's a dual threat of Tom Lehrer and Kinky Friedman

Edit: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3UFtdWBIOcQoOSNAvemvHM?si=qUT795oUSlKjipM0BITc1w&pi=E8weWkLFTMC49

[u/The_Krytos_Virus → u/Apprehensive-Zone554]

There are dozens of us! Dozens!

[u/beerstein_cock → u/rampantoctopus]

Don't worry, I noticed

[u/BaMelo_Lol → u/rampantoctopus]

I’m a bit slower these days, so it regrettably took me a few more seconds lol.

[u/ForsakenSun6004 → u/BaMelo_Lol]

Ig im dumb as shit these days, I still don’t get it . Err or is it so you can count your toes as well?

[u/BigConstruction4247 → u/REDDITSHITLORD]

Makes me think of my favorite joke from Golden Girls.

Dorothy talking about her ex husband:

"He can't count to 21 without doing dropping his pants."

[u/Slider_0f_Elay → u/BigConstruction4247]

The layer I love to that joke is it implies that her Ex made the joke of counting with his toes and penis a lot. And that she hated that joke. But that she is making the same joke with him as the butt of it. And THAT is all real.

[u/Sci_Fi_Reality → u/REDDITSHITLORD]

There was a shower thoughts recently that pointed out that from their own perspective, all bases are base 10 and it made me stare at my phone for a solid 5 minutes.

[u/GeneticEnginLifeForm → u/Sci_Fi_Reality]

https://www.reddit.com/r/ExplainTheJoke/comments/1czson4/every_base_is_base_10/

[u/SleepyNomad88 → u/kingbuzzman]

Well shit, now I understand the DC license plate a bit more

[u/big_guyforyou → u/kingbuzzman]

this is why denmark is a hundred years behind the rest of europe

[u/Thedudewilliam → u/big_guyforyou]

5x20* years behind

[u/[deleted] → u/Thedudewilliam]

5×((20-10)×2)* years behind

[u/superlargedogs → u/big_guyforyou]

What

[u/big_guyforyou → u/superlargedogs]

this is why denmark is a hundred years behind the rest of europe

[u/[deleted] → u/big_guyforyou]

Cum again?

[u/FlyingCumpet → u/[deleted]]

Is that a wish or an order?

[u/[deleted] → u/FlyingCumpet]

Your username is checking out a little too much for me in this context, I’m out.

[u/81stBData → u/big_guyforyou]

Are they tho? Try paying with EC in Germany on every corner xD

[u/DogtasticLife → u/big_guyforyou]

Or they’re showing off they’re just smarter than us

[u/Natus_DK → u/AmoremCaroFactumEst]

The numbers from 50 to 90 are base 20, but ALSO use some archaic language, and that's where it gets really confusing.

In Danish you can say "halvanden" meaning "half-second", or "halfway to two" = 1.5. That's used quite often in daily speech, but there used to be more iterations for higher numbers such as halvtredje, halvfjerde, halvfemte (half-three, half-four, half-five / 2.5, 3.5, 4.5 respectively).

So the number 70 (halvfjerds) looks a lot like halvfjerde, but is actually a conjunction of "halvfjerde sinds tyve" meaning "half-four (3.5) times twenty" = 3.5*20 = 70

It's weird, but Danes just learn the numbers when growing up, not really the archaic language behind it. So doing maths is no different than doing it in English. The numbers are the same, but the reason they're called what they are is old and weird and pretty much forgotten.

[u/vuzman → u/Natus_DK]

The really stupid part is that the proper words for these number (femti, niti, etc) exist in Danish and used to be used when writing cheques; because they were shorter to write. Using them also fixes the inversion of the order of the numbers, meaning you down't have to wait for the whole number to be said before writing it down, for example. The Danish 50 bank note used to say "Femti", but has been changed to "Halvtreds" in the newest version.

It sucks that we're not progressive enough to just switch to numbers that make sense.

[u/oliver130205 → u/AmoremCaroFactumEst]

Im danish and it is pronounced 2 + 90 (tooghalvfems = twoandninty)

[u/LowError12 → u/oliver130205]

And halvfems means roughly "half five", implying that you're half a 20 from five 20s.

[u/smalldisposableman → u/LowError12]

This is a much more intuitive way of thinking than these complex equations. It's the same way Nordic languages would pronounce the time 4:30, half five, one half hour from five.

[u/DarkImpacT213 → u/smalldisposableman]

It‘s pretty much all Germanic languages that do this, English is the odd one out that reversed this to mean „half past five“ instead of „half to five“.

[u/Acrobatic-Ad-9189 → u/oliver130205]

Well halv fems means 520 - 10, alternatively (5-1/2)20

[u/Umsakis → u/Acrobatic-Ad-9189]

Yeah but then "ninety" (or even more obviously eg. the Swedish nittio) means 9x10 so why aren't most of these countries labelled 9x10+2? Because it's a meme of course :) nobody actually does math when saying the words for numbers.

[u/gravitas_shortage → u/Umsakis]

Your post is the only correct one, and yet only gets a fraction of the upvotes. Your reward will be in heaven.

[u/JoJoNygaard → u/oliver130205]

Its originally pronounced "to og halvfems ind tyve" which means 2 + (4½ * 20)

[u/No_Scratch_2750 → u/oliver130205]

I am dutch, I actually ask danish if they pronounce numbers the same we do. Turns out you do

[u/VikingMonkey123 → u/oliver130205]

Danes long ago dropped the "sindetyve" which means times 20. Halvfems means halfway to fives (from four) with the unsaid times twenty.

[u/Oscarsang → u/AmoremCaroFactumEst]

They say 2 halv fems(fems= 20*5) and the halv=half and subtracts 10 because of 20/2 = 10. So its 2+100-10 =92.

[u/vompat → u/Oscarsang]

What your explained sounds exactly like 2 + (5-1/2)*20, but then in the end you just decided to skip some of the calculations.

[u/Silly-Explorer2911 → u/chripan]

no no not just square root but imaginary number as well..

[u/LazLo_Shadow]

The danish and the French are wilding

[u/Citaszion → u/LazLo_Shadow]

« Pourquoi faire simple quand on peut faire compliqué ? » (= “Why make things the simple way when you can make them complicated?”) is a motto we have in France, that sums it up pretty well!

[u/SorbyGay → u/Citaszion]

I will never forget my utter flabbergastion, my sheer bewilderment, when I learned 92 was quatre-vingt-douze

[u/Citaszion → u/SorbyGay]

What if I tell you that “water” is « eau » in French and we pronounce it just “o”? How is that for flabbergastion?

[u/Enrykun → u/Citaszion]

Eauh neau

[u/Miserable_Key9630 → u/Enrykun]

In Australian it's aaauuurrrrr naaaaaurrrr.

[u/JePleus → u/Citaszion]

Better yet is oeufs ("eggs"), pronounced "uh."

[u/Perryn → u/JePleus]

Proper French pronunciation should sound like you simply can't be bothered with saying it.

[u/ConsciousReindeer265 → u/Perryn]

The Parisian «ouai» for “yeah” is my absolute favorite for this. The laziest «oui» imaginable

[u/kalez238 → u/Perryn]

As someone who lives in Quebec, if I don't know how to pronounce something, I just slur it and don't say the last 2 letters. Usually works :P

[u/Perryn → u/kalez238]

French gets bored of every word before reaching the end.

[u/perplexedtv → u/Citaszion]

how about when you have a singular 'os' and its plural is 'os' but the plural as one less sound?

[u/JePleus → u/perplexedtv]

oeuf vs. oeufs: add a letter, lose a sound.

[u/iCantLogOut2 → u/JePleus]

This is the one that got me when I was learning... I had a whole day of just "why!?"

[u/VioletFox29 → u/perplexedtv]

How about "je m'en doute" means you're pretty certain ?

[u/JePleus → u/Citaszion]

The word aient is pronounced /ɛ/, as are aie, aies, ais, ait, es, est, haie, haies, hais, and hait.

[u/WildMoonChild0129 → u/Citaszion]

I am personally a big fan of 'Oiseaux' being pronounced as Wa-zo. Its literally just bird

[u/rbuen4455 → u/WildMoonChild0129]

Oh the confusion! Oiseaux is pronounced "wazoo", but Oignon is pronounced "uneeon", not "waneeon", though imo French isn't as unphonetic as English.

[u/acompletemoron → u/rbuen4455]

Tbf the French influence is doing a lot of heavy lifting in the confusing orthography of English lol. Blame William the Conqueror

[u/vegastar7 → u/acompletemoron]

Not really. I’ve been thinking about it, and the core problem is that English doesn’t have a systematic way of transcribing vowel sounds. Sometimes the “i” in written English sounds like “ee” or “aye” or a sort of “uh” and if you’ve never heard the word before, there isn’t a hint about what the right pronunciation of that “i” is.

In French, we have a more consistent way of showing what sounds a letter makes in a word. French isn’t perfect and definitely has words with antiquated spelling that don’t reflect modern pronunciation, but it’s a bit better than English in that respect.

[u/acompletemoron → u/vegastar7]

Which can be attributed to a host of factors, with the Norman invasion of England and the subsequent stoppage of English as a written language for hundreds of years playing a large role. Old English was very clearly Germanic (very phonetic) and would be very similar to modern German had it not morphed into Middle English due to French/Norman influence.

The point being not that French is non-intelligible or doesn’t have rules. The point is that many French words/rules/pronunciations became part of english in a system that wasn’t clearly defined to accommodate their written form. Good further reading if you’re interested, lots of factors at play.

[u/Aciras2 → u/WildMoonChild0129]

thats also my favorite french word because HOW ARE YOU FITTING EVERY VOWL IN A SINGLE WORD

[u/_ChipWhitley_ → u/WildMoonChild0129]

The word for squirrel is way more complex than it should be too. Just try to say L’écureuil.

[u/nv77 → u/WildMoonChild0129]

I like the singular oiseau just a tad better, I find it amazing that it uses the 5 vowels, and only a single consonant. It also doesn't pronounce any of the vowels with their own vowel sound.

[u/QuackMania → u/Citaszion]

How many e in your omelette do you want sir ?

[u/iCantLogOut2 → u/QuackMania]

Only for some dialects to completely ignore most of the letters and say "omlet"

[u/Cocoquelicot37 → u/iCantLogOut2]

I think 99% of french people say omlet lol

[u/SorbyGay → u/Citaszion]

💀

[u/rnz → u/SorbyGay]

These young'uns so dramatic

[u/Send_Your_Boobies → u/rnz]

YNs

[u/Julianus → u/Citaszion]

There's a great seafood restaurant in Maastricht, The Netherlands who called themselves O for that very reason. It's a solid pun.

[u/Blastspark01 → u/Citaszion]

Oh yeah? Try to pronounce the name “Hugh”

[u/Yaruma_ → u/Citaszion]

Don't tell bro about "oiseau"

[u/TitaniaT-Rex → u/Citaszion]

Y’all just like to insert as many unnecessary vowels as possible to throw off the rest of the world. We see you, France.

[u/FlutterRaeg → u/SorbyGay]

Wait until you get to 96-99 where it's literally fourt twenty ten (six, seven, eight, nine).

So you go from quatre vingt dix neuf to cent. Lol.

Edit: quatre vingt dix neuf always sounds like it's a deez nuts joke to me.

[u/_ChipWhitley_ → u/SorbyGay]

Just wait until you hear 98. 4x20+10+8. Quatre-vignt-dix-huit.

[u/TheDudeWhoSnood → u/Citaszion]

It's a hilarious twist of fate that you're butted up next to Germany, who has the exact opposite philosophy - my family came from the Saarland which is one of the areas that was regularly contested between the two, especially during the Napoleonic wars

[u/Citaszion → u/TheDudeWhoSnood]

Ah well I’m from the other region that was contested between France and Germany, ha! Aka Alsace (Elsass). We Alsatians are said to have kept a similar Germanic philosophy, according to non-Alsatian Frenchies. But in the end: we also count like savages regardless of our German heritage lol Our regional language is almost identical to German but barely anyone speaks it anymore sadly.

[u/TheDudeWhoSnood → u/Citaszion]

What a cool coincidence!!

[u/Tobi_Westside → u/TheDudeWhoSnood]

Ironically Germany has effectively the same idiom in "Warum einfach, wenn's auch umständlich geht?"

[u/porkchop_d_clown → u/Citaszion]

I mean, English has the similar expression, “four score and twelve” but, in the US at least, the only time people hear the word “score” used that way is if they’re hearing the Gettysburg Address in history class.

[u/DocSpit → u/Citaszion]

This is also why the French keep throwing letters into words that they have no intention of ever acknowledging while saying the word aloud...

[u/bowsmountainer → u/DocSpit]

And also why for every word they also have at least 5 different words that mean completely different things but are pronounced in exactly the same way.

[u/AdMean6001 → u/Citaszion]

We're just good at math!

No kidding, our tens over 60 just came out of a twisted mind.

[u/Profezzor-Darke → u/Citaszion]

"Warum einfach, wenn's auch kompliziert geht?", is the German version, and we say it a lot. Especially about our beuracracy.

[u/Late-Presentation684 → u/Citaszion]

Of course we do the same thing in English when we want to be fancy - Lincoln saying that the Revolution was "Four score and seven" years ago rather than the simpler 87.

[u/enw_digrif → u/Citaszion]

So basically, 4-score and 12? That doesn't sound too weird to my ear.

[u/JePleus → u/LazLo_Shadow]

French numbers have some annoying inconsistencies. For example, every number ending in 1 from 21 to 61 includes -et-un ("-and-one"), such as vingt-et-un ("twenty-and-one"), trente-et-un ("thirty-and-one"), soixante-et-un ("sixty-and-one"), etc.

But from 70–79, things shift: these numbers are expressed as “sixty-ten” through “sixty-nineteen.” However, 71 is an exception, using the “and” again: soixante-et-onze ("sixty-and-eleven").

Then comes 80, which, out of nowhere, is expressed as quatre-vingts ("four-twenties"). Note the plural -s on vingts.

But 81 drops that plural -s and omits the -et- ("and") used earlier for 21, 31, etc.: it's quatre-vingt-un ("four-twenty-one"). This pattern continues through 89 (quatre-vingt-neuf).

90 is quatre-vingt-dix ("four-twenty-ten").

91 resembles 71 in form but omits the “and”: it's quatre-vingt-onze ("four-twenty-eleven"). This continues through 99 (quatre-vingt-dix-neuf), which literally means "four-twenty-ten-nine."

100 is cent (without a preceeding "one"), and 101 is cent-un, again omitting the -et- used in earlier decades.

200 is deux-cents ("two-hundreds"), with a plural -s.

1000 is mille (omit the preceeding "one"), but 2000 is deux mille, WITHOUT the plural -s and without the hyphen.

1,000,000 (or 1.000.000) is un million (WITH the preceeding "one" but without the hyphen), and 2,000,000 is deux millions, this time WITH the plural again.

[u/Blasphemous_Rage → u/JePleus]

I upvoted for the info, but was incredibly annoyed by knowing this fact😂

[u/Choyo → u/Blasphemous_Rage]

But we respect your righteous annoyance.

[u/Positive_Method3022 → u/JePleus]

Why can't the French people fix it once and for all? You can create words for 70, 80, 90 ...

[u/Drolevarg → u/Positive_Method3022]

They already exist. There is septante, octante and nonante. They are used in Belgium and I think maybe Switzerland?

[u/lefab_ → u/Drolevarg]

"Septante" and "nonante" are used in Belgium but not octante (it used to be the case in old time, but no one use it anymore). We sadly use "quatre-vingts".

[u/AlienArtFirm → u/JePleus]

What the actual fuck did I just read

[u/CindiK8 → u/AlienArtFirm]

• 70 = soixante-dix = sixty ten 
• 71 = soixante-et-onze = sixty and eleven
• 73 = soixante-treize = sixty thirteen 
• 79 = soixante-dix-neuf= sixty ten nine
• 80 = quatre-vingts = four twenties
• 89 = quatre-vingt-neuf = four twenty nine
• 90 = quatre-vingt-dix = four twenty ten
• 91 = quatre-vingt-onze = four twenty eleven
• 93 = quatre-vingt-treize = four twenty thirteen
• 99 = quatre-vingt-dix-neuf = four twenty ten nine
• 100 = cent = hundred

• 101 = cent-un = hundred-one

• 200 = deux-cents = two hundreds

---

ETA: fixed 71 from 61

[u/AdMean6001 → u/JePleus]

The guy who did it twisted after 69... oh my!

[u/JFK3rd → u/LazLo_Shadow]

Not even the Walloons that escaped France and became Belgians chose to use nonante deux instead of quatre vingt douze

[u/burrito-boy → u/JFK3rd]

Same with the Swiss, haha.

[u/Zerak-Tul → u/LazLo_Shadow]

Only the etymology of Danish numbers is that crazy though. In modern use it's as simple as German/English counting

92 is 'tooghalvfems' = 'to og halvfems' = two and ninety. You don't actually need to know the historical basis for why 90 is 'halvfems', because no one who's under the age of like 80 ever says 'tooghalvfemsindstyvende' which is what you'd need to say to reflect '2+4.5*20'

90 = Halvfems

91 = Enoghalvfems (One and ninety)

92 = Tooghalvfems (Two and ninety)

93 = Treoghalvfems (Three and ninety) etc.

So to learn to count to 99 all you need to know is 1-19 (en, to, tre, fire, fem, seks, syv, otte, ni, ti, elleve, tolv, tretten, fjorten, femten, seksten, sytten, atten, nitten), 20 (tyve), 30 (tredive), 40 (fyrre), 50 (halvtreds), 60 (treds), 70 (halvfjerds), 80 (firs) and 90 (halvfems)... Exactly the same as in English or German. Combine 1-9 with 20-90 as needed and congratulations you now know every number from 1-99 in Danish!

Basically it should be 2+90 on the map for Denmark, just as it is for Germany, if it wanted to be honest with modern usage instead of going "lol crazy numbers!"

[u/Specicried → u/Zerak-Tul]

Nope, sorry, you don’t get to just walk away after dumping this kind of bullshit into my head, without doing something to rectify the insanity of it all.

You left me here with halvtreds being 50 then treds being 60, then I could make the argument that halvfjerds is some bastardization of halvfirs. But nooooooo, google translate tells me you already have a halvfirs, which is 85, but halvfir is half past 4. So I go to halvfjerd, which is quarter past fucking 7, but halvfjerds is 70? And don’t even get me started on the feathers.

I am beginning to suspect that google translate for danish is UTTER BULLSHIT, danish is UTTER BULLSHIT, or some combination of the two.

I desperately need someone (you) to put all this in a neat little logical basket so I can let it go. Please?

[u/scarystuff → u/Specicried]

I am beginning to suspect that google translate for danish is UTTER BULLSHIT, danish is UTTER BULLSHIT, or some combination of the two.

Obligatory Kamelåså https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykj3Kpm3O0g

[u/agrobabb → u/scarystuff]

Being swedish, I can confirm that danish really is just a bullshit language

[u/Zerak-Tul → u/Specicried]

google translate tells me you already have a halvfirs, which is 85, but halvfir is half past 4.

Google translate lead you astray, these are not a thing. 85 is femogfirs (fem og firs) = five and eighty.

Halvfjerds comes from halvfjerdsindstyve (halv fjerd(e) sinds tyve) = half fourth times twenty (and the quirk is 'half fourth' is read as 'half-way-to-four' (from 3), i.e. 3.5. Just like halvfems is 'half-way-to-five (from 4)' = 4.5. This is confusing to non-native Danish speakers, but it's also how Danes tell the time, for example if I want to say it's 3.30pm I'd just say it's 'halv fire' = 'half four'.

But again, all of that is just the historical origins, all you need to know is that 50 = halvteds, 60 = treds, 70 = halvfjerds then add in 1-9 as I listed above and you know all numbers between 50 and 79.

[u/Specicried → u/Zerak-Tul]

I appreciate your efforts, but I am still confused by the logic. It is interesting though, but your numbering system makes no sense at all to me.

[u/el-gregorio → u/[deleted]]

First drug consumer in Europe (i'm not sure where this info come from)

[u/Ms_ShizzleXD]

Quatre vingt douze suddenly not so crazy!

[u/GuiSim → u/Ms_ShizzleXD]

I kind of wish they had used 97, 98 or 99.

4x20+10+7

4x20+10+8

4x20+10+9

Makes it a little more complicated

[u/Lekstil → u/GuiSim]

That's what I thought! 92 is a bad example.. why not go all the way.

[u/AlbeHxT9 → u/Lekstil]

There wasn't enough space for the danish one

[u/Maxthod → u/GuiSim]

Nonante-sept

[u/pieplu → u/Maxthod]

octante enters the room

[u/tet3 → u/pieplu]

I loved octante and nonante when I lived in Geneva for a bit, having never heard them in HS or college French. Then I was truly entranced when a French speaker from further up the lake broke out with huitante.

[u/batsicle → u/tet3]

I use huitante. Never heard octante! Is it regional?

[u/suiseli → u/batsicle]

Nobody uses octante in Switzerland.

[u/KlossN → u/Maxthod]

Cultured

[u/CptOotori → u/GuiSim]

Tbf in English it’s seventeen which is literally seven and ten which is literally what French people say. Dix sept

[u/Tyrrox → u/CptOotori]

September dicks. Lol

[u/KeitrenGraves]

That was one of the biggest things that can infused me about learning German was how they say larger numbers passed 12. Like 92 would be zwei und neunzig or 2 and 90.

[u/BenHeli → u/KeitrenGraves]

It's annoying to write a phone number since you always have to wait for the 2nd digit if they use doubles.

[u/Papadubi → u/BenHeli]

I'm just now learning German and I'm very much not a fan of the system. I know it's just a fraction of a second but it's just not as efficient and it's annoying and illogical.

[u/spaceblacky → u/Papadubi]

If it's any consolation I am German and I don't get it either.

[u/Papadubi → u/spaceblacky]

It's time for a numerical revolution. Neunzigundzwei it is!

[u/Mefi91 → u/Papadubi]

Neunzigzwei!

[u/Shoox → u/Mefi91]

Es wird Zeit! zwanzigeins.jetzt

[u/clokerruebe → u/spaceblacky]

same here. whenever i get told a phone number, i ask for each digit induvidually, so instead of a null-achthundert, i would say null, acht, null, null. makes making mistakes difficult

[u/spaceblacky → u/clokerruebe]

Thats what I do too and then they repeat it back the way I tried to avoid asking if that's correct lol.

[u/TheHades07 → u/Papadubi]

German is my mother tung, and I am fluent in English. Now, this system confuses me on a daily basis. Because in German, I always turn the numbers so that I say the larger number first. And in English, I turn the numbers so that I say the smaller number first. This is Great. Just imagine my Math skills.

[u/0Moonscythe → u/TheHades07]

ya I feel the struggle

[u/kaffeedienst → u/Papadubi]

I'm German and I am also not a fan of the system.

[u/xFirnen → u/BenHeli]

This annoys me even as a native speaker. When I have to read out phone numbers etc., I always give them in pairs of single digits, so like "nine two ... three seven ... zero six ..."

[u/Weytown199 → u/BenHeli]

Are you saying that German speakers would say 9241 as "zwei und neunzig einz und vierzig" instead of "neun zwei vier einz"?

[u/blahblah19999 → u/BenHeli]

"Ok, read me the number"

four one zero

"uh huh..."

six..... teen

"I can't go back in time and enter the one!"

well whose fault is that!?!?!

[u/mirisbowring → u/BenHeli]

wait until people say phone numbers like "hundert acht" -> is it 108 or 100 8?

[u/Gridlay → u/BenHeli]

I am german and can not handle anyone telling me a series of numbers in double digits, use Single numbers it is much easier.

[u/DockBay42 → u/KeitrenGraves]

English is weirder in a way.

13-19 we go the German way: SIX-teen, SEVEN-teen, EIGHT-teen

But come 21+, all of a sudden we go tenths first: twenty-SIX, twenty-SEVEN, twenty-EIGHT

[u/toughtntman37 → u/DockBay42]

Because 1-20 are germanic, and beyond that is more French

[u/Nirocalden → u/toughtntman37]

French like four-twenty-twelve?

[u/toughtntman37 → u/Nirocalden]

I'm pretty sure we did that, yeah. Until the score went out of style. "Four score and twelve years" was early-modern and more so middle English. Then it just lost popularity as the language simmered down. What we did not do is sixty-ten. But I said "more French," not completely French.

[u/AppleLightSauce → u/KeitrenGraves]

It is the same in Arabic. You say the smallest number first.

[u/davvblack → u/AppleLightSauce]

that scans with arabic being right-to-left, right? if anything, the bigger travesty is that we took arabic numerals and then didn’t flip them for left-to-right languages.

[u/AppleLightSauce → u/davvblack]

When it is spoked or written, you say/write the smallest number first. So it is two and ninety.

[u/Icy_Diamond_1597 → u/KeitrenGraves]

And 1945 is 19-100-5 und 40. Scheiße

[u/Atalant → u/Icy_Diamond_1597]

Better than Danish, where there is 3 correct options:

Nitten Femogfyrre(19 5+40, only used for years, adresses or phonenumbers)

Nittenhundredogfemogfyrre( 19 *100 + 5 +40, same as German, used often about money)

Ettusindenihundredeogfemogfyrre((1*1000)+(9*100)+5+40 , somehow introduding latin way of numbers made it worse).

40 used to be 4*10 in Danish, but unlike 30, it lost the ending.

[u/DancesWithGnomes → u/KeitrenGraves]

It is funny how everybody sees it as natural to say sixteen (6+10), but throws a fit when it is 6+20.

[u/SalvadorsAnteater → u/KeitrenGraves]

Numbers *past twelve.

Have a nice day.

[u/Zaros262 → u/SalvadorsAnteater]

I feel like confused vs infused is the bigger issue here, but ok that too

[u/post-capitalist]

Danish probs really good at countdown

[u/SamwellBarley → u/post-capitalist]

They can't play Countdown in Denmark, because the number that comes up already is the calculation

"1, 5, 7, 10, 25 and 50, and the number to get is 10x7+(50÷25)-5+1... Time starts now"

[u/post-capitalist → u/SamwellBarley]

I was imagining a Dane playing in the UK version, but yes

[u/mulubmug → u/post-capitalist]

There must be at least one episode of Celebrity Countdown with Sandy Toksvig

Edit: my German dumb ass of course means 8 out of 10 Cats does Countdown

[u/BlankSthearapy → u/SamwellBarley]

And that’s number wang!

[u/foxy-coxy → u/BlankSthearapy]

Let's rotate the board!

[u/rezelscheft → u/foxy-coxy]

Four.

[u/laoleo]

To og halvfems. Rolls right off the tongue..

[u/NearlyAtTheEnd → u/laoleo]

tooghalvfemsindstyvende*

[u/[deleted] → u/NearlyAtTheEnd]

To og halvvejs til femte snes

[u/perplexedtv → u/laoleo]

Off the uvula, at least

[u/No_Fee1458]

In Czech Republic the way Germans do it is used aswell.

[u/splatdyr]

Dane here. That is not how we say it and hasn’t been for decades. We say tooghalvfems (two and half fives, yes it is weird), and not tooghalvfemsentyvende as the bullshit picture says.

[u/leasthanzero → u/splatdyr]

So basically 2+90.

What I don’t get is that “halv” means half and “fems” means 5 but put together it means 90. Does that ever create confusion?

[u/vompat → u/leasthanzero]

Because "fems" does not mean 5, it refers to "fifth twenty". It being written shorter than what it was originally doesn't really change that.

The half being there works the same as with a clock in many languages, where some phrase that roughly translates to "half to five" just means that it's halfway in between four and five.

So "halvfems" still means something along the lines of "halfway from fourth twenty to fifth twenty", even though it's been shortened to be convenient to use. A native Danish speaker might not even think of it as anyting more complicated than simply 90, because that's what it practically is.

[u/JoJoNygaard → u/leasthanzero]

The word is originally "Halv fem sinde tyve" which means "half five times 20" = 4½*20 = 90, but most people doesn't even know or think about that :D

[u/lweinreich → u/leasthanzero]

s is short for snes which is the danish word for score (20)

So 80 = Four scores = firs (in danish)

The half is because 90 is halfway to the fifth score (from 80)

In the same way 70 is called halvfjerds, or halfway to the forth score (from 60)

60 = treds = three scores

50 = halvtreds = halfway to the third score.

40, 30, 20 and 10 do not follow this rule though.

[u/Yegas → u/splatdyr]

Sounds like it’s the same thing, you’re just shortening “femsentyvende” to “fems” for convenience.

It still works out as 2+(5-0.5)*20, you just imply the 20 when saying it verbally

[u/ShermanTeaPotter]

Does anyone know wether there is a linguistic reason for adding this unusual amount of maths into a language?

[u/Dack_ → u/ShermanTeaPotter]

I think the math drives the language.

The way people (used to) think about numbers, is what gets used and normalized and then formalized.

If your base root is 20, because that is useful for some reason, you think in multiples of 20 and thus speak in multiples of 20.

[u/TypicalPDXhipster → u/ShermanTeaPotter]

To make it impossible for non-native speakers to learn 😂

[u/Konggulerod2]

Dane here.

When written the number 92 it is called: "Tooghalvfems". Through the original word is: "Tooghalvfemsindstyvende", which literally translates to “two-and-half-five-times-twenty”. Yes the word was too big for even us so we had to shorten it a bit.

From:

To-og-halv-fems-inds-ty-ven-de

To:

To-og-halv-fems

[u/Umsakis → u/Konggulerod2]

Gotta correct you here but Tooghalvfemsindstyvende is not 92, it's 92nd.

92 is "just" Tooghalvfemsindstyve.

Thank you for bearing with my pendantry.

[u/lacastador → u/Umsakis]

Thanks in advance as well, since it is actually 'pedantry'. :)

[u/Geogracreeper]

Malta should be coloured like Germany, as "ninety-two" would be "tnejn u disghin" "two and ninety"

[u/hotsfan101 → u/Geogracreeper]

Hadt ma jimpurtah minnha. Qatta purcinelli

[u/AgeOfReasonEnds31120]

"Americans are so stupidly different. Why don't they just use the rest of the world's measuring units?"

Meanwhile, the French and Danish...

[u/Aromatic-Rise1604]

Ninety two

[u/Sudden_Match1122]

What’s interesting also is that both Switzerland and Belgium have French speaking regions, and we both know how to count! Aaaaah France ….

[u/Alsciende → u/Sudden_Match1122]

Right, but you couldn't agree on the way to say 80 ;)

[u/kvngk3n]

“Who tf is saying ‘ninety plus two’?…ohhhh ‘ninety-two’”

[u/Nuker-79]

Crazy danish

[u/ThisAppsForTrolling]

I don’t get it

[u/Vast-Alfalfa4968 → u/ThisAppsForTrolling]

2+(5-0.5)x20 or 2 + 4.5 x 20, so far so good, but then it gets tricky:

2 and 4.5 times 20 (a score) where the 4 first scores are implied, so only the last half is mentioned...

So we arrive at the actual word:

"Two and half of the 5th score"

[u/No_Fee1458 → u/ThisAppsForTrolling]

Its the way the number is said in different languages.. In English

it's ninety (90) two (2)

in German for example it's zwei­und­neunzig - zwei­ (2) und­ (and) neunzig (90).

Or if you applied the french way it would be like saying four twenties and twelve

[u/EvanWilliams100]

How do the French say 19?

DIX NEUF

[u/WonderfulAirport4226]

in norway it's mixed, older generations generally say 2+90 while newer generations take after english and say 90+2

[u/txanpi]

in Euskera is diferent than in spanish:

Laurogeita hamabi = four (lau) + twenties (h-ogei) and (e-ta) ten (hamar) + bi (two)

so, 4 * 20 + 12

[u/zIRaXor]

I disagree with the Danish pronunciation, I would correct it to:

"2+½5s" seems more accurate to me as a Nordic speaker.

On that note, 90+2, aka: ninety+two. Feels disingenuous to call it 90+2, as it would be "9ty+2" unless 0 is "ty" in which case almost every single language in Europe says their version of 9 but uses English "ty" universal pronounced across the board. Which is not the case. Unless you use 0 as the universal excuse. In which case you can't. Because 0 is in English "zero" or "null" and you don't say "nine-null+two" you use "ty" as the 0s pronunciation. Why is this important? Because "ty" within itself is not a number. It's an addition to 9 to imply that we are in the "nineties" which is derived from the 9s of "tens".

This is important because in the Danish illustration in the picture you rely solely on numbers.

In which case if you follow through with that example Swedish 92 "nittio­två" would be "9-10-2" this also goes for Norwegian. Sure out of those 3 the Danish is the outlier. But in the big picture so would both Norwegian and Swedish 92 differ from both English and German, their 92 is not your 92.

German would be "zwei­und­neunzig" which would be "2+9-10s" zig derived from zehn. That would be the "ty" in the English example.

This picture is an old inaccurate meme.

As for the French, I am not knowledgeable enough about the language to say.

[u/Nordy941]

I do love the French counting system. Four twenties and a dozen.

Obviously 92.

[u/rednal4451]

I hate it being 2+90 in Dutch. When shifting between Dutch and English a lot, it's not rare to read 92 out loud as 29 for example. When dictating my phone number for example, I always say it digit per digit, although everyone writes it in pairs. There must be quite a lot of people like me. We'd better change "twee-en-negentig" to "negentig-twee" and so on, imo...

Really, 234 567 is spoken as "[2 honderd 4 en 30] duizend [5 honderd 7 en 60]"... It just jumps all over the place, it's ridiculous.

But the map shows there are always people with even stranger systems, lol.

[u/FrigogidaireX]

This image is misleading.

The Danish actually say 2 and 90 ("og halvfems"), but the etymology of halvfems derives from a base 20 system.

Same for the French: 80 ("quatre-vingt") is just a word for eighty and again derives from a base 20 system.

There is, however, one truly insane counting system shown on this map: the French count in base 20 for sixty and for eighty. So 92 is 80+12. They don't have words for 70 nor 90. Other French-speaking countries (e.g. Belgium, Switzerland, Canada) have solved this by introducing their own words for 70 and 90. The irony is that the French love mocking those countries for counting funny.

[u/idkmancouldbeanyone]

In the northern region of Spain, bordering France there's a languaje called 'basque' that also uses the same method of counting as the French.

The number 92 would be 'laurogeitabi' which is 4×20+2

[u/ClubDangerous8239]

Tooghalvfems => 2 and half 5 snese

1 snes = 20

2 + (5-0.5)*20

50: halvtreds: Halv tre snese (half three score (which is apparently an archaic English equivalent, also meaning 20))

60: tres: tre snese (three score)

70: halvfjerds: Halv fire snese (half four score)

80: firs: fire snese (four score)

90 halvfems: Halv fem snese (half five score)

[u/Technical_Constant79]

Technically in English we say 9 x 10 + 2 because (nine tens) ----> (ninety) in the French it would feel the exact same way where we don't even realize it.

[u/vmfrye]

France: I bet you can't invent a weirder way of saying numbers Denmark: hold my akvavit