Guest Posted November 18, 2019 In hebrew, as maybe in russian, 11 is "1 and 10", 12 is "2 and 10". Germanic languages (and i include english, yes) have that; "Twelve" not "2-teen" or "2-ten". I do not have any etymological proof, but as you suggest @Fr0sT.Brutal, an old economy based on 12 and 20 is very likely behind these things. In "old" swedish at least; "dussin" = 12, "Tjog" = 20. Messy! Lucky us to have been born late enough. Oh, and a british "draftsman" hired a desk across me for half a year and i was on about the metric system. She agreed; "The "1 and 1/18th inch" is old shit." she said. Once more admins; a "Language" sub-forum. No? Share this post Link to post
Rollo62 536 Posted November 19, 2019 At least those old numeric systems were activating the mental arithmetic in everyday life. Share this post Link to post
Fr0sT.Brutal 900 Posted November 19, 2019 Quote "The gold ones are Galleons," he explained. "Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle, it's easy enough " © JK Rowling, HP & Philosopher's stone. That's all what should be said about English measure system 😄 1 Share this post Link to post