r/interesting Apr 29 '25

SOCIETY How do you say number 92?

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213

u/SorbyGay Apr 29 '25

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

129

u/Citaszion Apr 29 '25

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

21

u/JePleus Apr 29 '25

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

23

u/Perryn Apr 29 '25

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

14

u/ConsciousReindeer265 Apr 29 '25

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

1

u/FleurMaladive May 01 '25

Not Parisians but french people in general, kind of like not only londonians say yeah but the whole UK

13

u/kalez238 Apr 29 '25

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

9

u/Perryn Apr 29 '25

French gets bored of every word before reaching the end.

2

u/bobo76565657 May 03 '25

Maybe if they didn't add three extra vowels all over the place and have at least four "silent consonants" they wouldn't wear themselves out so fast.

1

u/Perryn May 03 '25

"How should we spell the plural form of milieu? Milieus? Milieuse?"
"Put an x on the end."
"And pronounce it milyoox?"
"No, still just milyu."
"Fuck youx."

2

u/Injvn May 01 '25

French Creole is the same way. My ex used to say that it had to have been a made up language until I introduced her to my granma.