nycki,

why doesn’t “one” rhyme with “bone”?

ImWaitingForRetcons, (edited )

It’s a holdover from an older base-12 counting system, one of many, many relics of the fact that English is an ever evolving language.

Edit: it’s not a holdover from a different base, but a different way of counting. See comment below for details.

MadBob,

No, it supposedly derives from an old word for a leftover. Eleven is one left over after ten; twelve is two left over after ten. www.oed.com/dictionary/eleven_adj?tab=etymology#5…

masterofn001,

Because there are 2 of them. And they look like L’s.

So it’s L-even

Hule,

Great! Now do twelve!

Anticorp,

How old is this? That’s the Google logo from like 30 years ago

robocall,

30 years ago was the best Internet

AngryCommieKender,

Don’t age me that much. Google isn’t quite 30, only 25.

shadowintheday2,

I didn’t know memes could smell like they’re old through the screen until I saw this one

Google logo before Corporate Memphis bullshit and the dude using a feet to hold his cup of tea just like the classical antiquity raptor, it’s just perfect

jaybone,

A feet

robocall,

This meme was passed down to me by my mother.

KrapKake,

Like that old book smell.

shotgun_crab, (edited )

Same reason why it’s “once” and not “dieciuno” in spanish :)

bitwaba,

Isn’t that shit confusing? Once is one in English and eleven in Spanish. You can’t explain that!

x4740N,

Pretty sure its would be ichi-juu-ichi in Japanese

NickwithaC,
@NickwithaC@lemmy.world avatar

just juu-ichi I think the singular ten is implied.

IdleSheep,
@IdleSheep@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Indeed. Same rule applies to one hundred (hyaku) and one thousand (sen), but not after ten thousand (ichi-man, ichi-oku, i-cchou, etc.), except in the intervals between every 4th zero like in the first set (juu-man, hyaku-man, sen-man, etc.). I love Japanese.

zarkanian,
@zarkanian@sh.itjust.works avatar

Dek-unu in Esperanto.

meleethecat,

Even oneteen would be better

HonoraryMancunian,

Ugh that would mean more teenagers

jaybone,

Aren’t tweens just as bad?

alvvayson,

Because base 12 is superior to base 10.

  • Signed, the Sumerian master race
bdonvr,

Don’t you mean base 10?

SkyeHarith,

Nah, base 10 is superior than base 10. Atleast base 10 isn’t base 10

bitwaba,

What about base 10?

SkyeHarith,

Based

lugal,

Didn’t they have base 60?

alvvayson,

Yes, but they actually combine base 12 with base 5 to get base 60.

And how they do it, is also quite interesting:

With one hand you can count to twelve. Use each finger segment of the four fingers to denote a number and count by placing the thumb.

Base of index finger is 1, middle is 2 and top is 3. Middle finger has 4,5,6, ring finger has 7,8,9. Pinky has 10,11,12.

Now use the other hand to count how often you reached 12.

In terms of the names of the numbers, it goes 1-12 like we also have in English (that’s why eleven and twelve have unique names).

And then you have 1-5 dozens, to get up to 60.

lugal,

Sure? Because the only cuniform numbers I could find are base 10 and than 60. They might have counted differently with their hands, I wasn’t there to observe.

But the thing you describe, I remember vaguely that it’s ancient Egypt. Neither is related to modern English by the way. I guess you mixed up alot.

alvvayson,

No, I’m not sure. I learned it from a TikTok video.

Google only shows me Babylonian cuneiform.

Google does show some sources that claim eleven and twelve are evidence of a base-12 influence, but most sources disagree with that theory.

So yeah, perhaps I mixed it up.

southsamurai,
@southsamurai@sh.itjust.works avatar

Tenty one

ObviouslyNotBanana,
@ObviouslyNotBanana@lemmy.world avatar

Tenty two

Maalus,

Ten ten ten ten ten ten ten ten

bitwaba,
jaybone,

Tenty twee

qwertilliopasd,
@qwertilliopasd@lemmy.world avatar

111 is always “eleventy first” to me.

coffeejoe,

It should be ten-one

coffeejoe,

Or tenty-one

southsamurai,
@southsamurai@sh.itjust.works avatar

That’s what i said lol

alvvayson,

Hey, don’t interrupt coffeejoe when he’s having a good conversation with himself 😂

dharmacurious,

I like “firsteen” “seconteen” “thirteen.” I’m helping to replicate the sound changes.

Verqix,

As long as we are changing things, why not get rid of the order shift as well? Teenty one, teenty two, teenty three, teenty four, etc.

dharmacurious,

I like this. Not only does it feel right, but it also sounds like they’re the smallest, cutest numbers. They’re teenty.

MadBob,

The “-ty” already means ten so it makes more sense to say onety-one, onety-two, etc.

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