C is pretty made up too. Why water, and why sea level? Don't complain about F if you aren't using K, where zero actually means zero. Anything else is just picking arbitrary points that you like for one reason or another.
Because it’s one of the most abundant resources available on earth that is imperative to our understanding of the existence of life and is the commonest solution regularly used by humans in scenarios where temperature is a relevant factor.
why sea level?
Because vast swathes of humanity live at or near sea level, where we already arbitrarily nominate the level of atmospheric pressure to be 1 ATM.
While K has a natural zero-point, the gradation (by your logic) is entirely arbitrary as well because it’s based on C and not some other cosmological constant.
I know why water was chosen. Brine also has characteristics that are useful. My point was that it's just one (specific version of a) molecule at one specific altitude, and pressure varies, so there is no true "sea level pressure". It is not a concrete thing where zero means zero.
Metric I love. C is not metric though. It's an SI unit, but not metric, as often as those are conflated. It doesn't have any fundamental advantage over F.
I can't be certain that this is the exact reason, but I believe it's because metric units are based on measurements of fresh water at sea level. 1 kg = 1 litre = 1 m³ of fresh water at sea level. If fresh water at sea level has been used to standardize everything else, then why wouldn't you use it as the standard to calibrate a scale of 0 (least water movement) to 100 (most water movement)?
The problem with using K back when ⁰C were being standardized is that it's really really difficult to get your hands on some absolute zero. Also, since we generally use ⁰C to measure things here on Earth, I'd argue that the basis for C is just as arbitrary as the basis for metric. I think the equivalent of arguing for K over C would be to argue for light years or astronomical units over kilometres.
I'm not arguing for K over C. I'm arguing that C and F are both fine. People acting like C is fundamentally better are mistaken. They're both just setting 0 as some useful value that we can still go below.
0 (least water movement) to 100 (most water movement)
Temperature is a measure of movement. If we can continue to lower or raise the temperature, these are not the lowest or highest values for movement.
And people arguing for C because it's metric are just wrong, because it isn't metric. It's frequently used by the same people who use the metric system, but it isn't metric. The metric unit for temperature is K.
I agree that K is impractical. C and F have far more utility in everyday life. In my opinion, they're both fine. For cooking, I tend to think in C. For weather, I tend to think in F. They're both just arbitrary choosing useful values, and this means they're both useful for different things.
You know what? This is completely on me. I put words in your mouth by saying that C is just as reasonable as m, l, and g, but at no point did you voice support one way or the other. For all I know, your arguments across the spectrum may be based on absolute values. Perhaps you prefer measurements for time and distance based on the hyperfine transition of hydrogen, and weight based on atomic mass.
I was pushing the rationale that arguing for metric units, which are based on freshwater at sea level, but against C, which is also based on (the perceived states of) freshwater at sea level, is an inconsistent argument. But, once again, you didn't push that narrative; I made assumptions and attributed that narrative to you.
Fahrenheit is an extremely useful temperature scale for the lives of humans - 0 and 100 each representing the approximate extreme (cold and hot respectively) beyond which significant exposure is dangerous to human life
God forbid the units used by the average person in everyday life are easily divisible by whole numbers, not resulting in things like infinitely repeating decimals.
Good point. Splitting things in to 3rds is the most common function of everything. Why, just the other day I was building a box. I started by measuring the largest face of the backplate and subtracting the thickness of the side plates so I could figure out the internal volume. Most people would have done a simple equation like x-y but I prefer to do 3((x/3) - (y/3)). It's a much cleaner method.
Yeah I hate when I have to convert temperatures between systems, and then the nice round numbers that represent common values used in everyday life like 0, 20, 30, 40, and 100 become absolutely nonsensical values like 32, 68, 86, 104 and 212
Metric measurements are only decimals in North America because things are fabricated to be round imperial numbers for the American market. When you buy a piece of lumber in Europe it's cut to 45x95mm which (shockingly) converts to the absolutely nonsensical 1.77165x3.74016 inch two by four
When you buy a piece of lumber in Europe it’s cut to 45x95mm which (shockingly) converts to the absolutely nonsensical 1.77165x3.74016 inch two by four
Ah yes, nice round numbers there as well with metric. Why isn't it just 50x100mm? And that conversion is not even the imperial measurement of a 2x4, and you clearly don't understand where the dimensions come from.
There are nominal dimensions, and actual dimensions for lumber. The name 2x4 is the nominal dimension, the rough size before drying and planing. Between the forest and the hardware store, a board loses material twice.
A log goes through a sawmill and gets cut into rough boards. At this point, a 2x4 really is about 2" x 4". Green (freshly cut) wood contains 30% or more moisture.
The boards go into a kiln where hot air drops the moisture content to about 19%, as water leaves the cells, the board shrinks. The dried boards are rough and uneven. A planer shaves all four sides smooth. S4S (Surfaced Four Sides) means all four faces are planed. The planer removes another 1/8" or so from each face.
Result: a board that started at 2" x 4" ends up at a standard measurement of 1-1/2" x 3-1/2".
Now to get back to the metric equivalent... that 45x95mm board... starts with a nominal dimension of 47x100mm. Neither the nominal or actual dimensions are nice round numbers here, although at least the actual dimensions at the end are a multiple of 5. Why some places also refer to these as a 2x4, well they're the equivalent even though the actual size is completely unrelated. UK example
The main conversions would be betwren meters and centimeters ot in your case feet and inches. Those happen way more often.
And as soon as you get slightly out of most everyday lives but still quite everyday into the realm of unit conversion betwren different things like volume, speed, power what have you imperial just falls apart.
Oligarchs hijack the government to oppose the will of people, obviously that means every single US American wholeheartedly supports their oppressors. You must read so many books to be that smart.
What the fuck is wrong with people believing "octante" is used anywhere??? This is so prevailing. As far as I know no-one on earth uses "octante". We say "huitante" And the belgians were undecisive and still use "quatre-vingt"
Captain Picard and his brother were sent off to an old fashioned English boarding school by their luddite father that didn't allow them to transport home in the evening or weekends, thus their English accents (my head canon).
Picard's brother became indoctrinated into the same fucked up luddite philosophy and didn't even allow 24th century fire safety technology in his home, leading to the death of him, his wife and his son due to a fire (actual canon).
Brother, thats nothing, have you seen their vowels? Vowel chart is insane:
And also they distinguish diphtongs(like ai in pain), hiatus (like saying pain but saying it like "pa" from "papa" and then "in") and even fucking glides so "ai" and "aj" are not the same 💀
LOL, They weren't so bad. I even went to Paris. TBH, I think the American tourists over there was much worse :) Prisians give off an NYC leave me the fuck alone vibe.
Back in Frances time these were large numbers. One million five hundred thousand one hundred eight, like ???? That's how people in the future will look at you when you say that number in English. Stop counting people, our brains are not meant for this
It comes from way before French. Some tribe, Celts, or whatever, call them Gauls, although it doesn't really mean anything other that "people who live in that area according to the Romans", counted in twenties. And that's one of the things they've left us. For better or for worse.
Dutch tens are all pretty "normal" do you mean Danish? (Danish uses a x20 math for 60 and 80, but then 50, 70, and 90 are 2.5*20, 3.5*20, 4.5*20, except they dropped the "times 20" in the words over time)
156 Comments
nightwatch_admin@lemmy.world · 104 pts · 24d
I take no complaints on that subject from people who measure in inches, feet and ounces.
Dookieman12@piefed.social · 26 pts · 24d
We adopted the standard. The boat with the official measurements sank on the way over, you unread swine.
justOnePersistentKbinPlease@fedia.io · 28 pts · 24d
Fun fact: the moon landing was programmed and calculated in metric.
So, laughs in moon landing units.
Zwiebel@feddit.org · 22 pts · 24d
US units have all been redefined in relation to metric, so technically they use metric just with wierd factors
T00l_shed@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 23d
Because of all the Canadian engineers who went to work for Nasa after the arrow project was cancelled
Goodlucksil@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 8 pts · 24d
You (meaning the US) had 200 years to undo one mistake and you failed.
fleem@piefed.zeromedia.vip · 0 pts · 24d
happy anni-fedi-versary!
Goodlucksil@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 24d
Thank you :)
MojoMcJojo@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 24d
And yards...and Fahrenheits!
recursivethinking@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 24d
That F is zeroed out on fucking Brine makes it the most absurd thing.
Like OK there may be an argument for base 12 or base 16 (but not both)... But a mixture of water, ice, and sodium chloride?
Like OK blame a German I guess , but at least they were smart enough to decide, "Das ist stupid"
Cethin@lemmy.zip · 0 pts · 24d
C is pretty made up too. Why water, and why sea level? Don't complain about F if you aren't using K, where zero actually means zero. Anything else is just picking arbitrary points that you like for one reason or another.
Instigate@aussie.zone · 9 pts · 24d
Because it’s one of the most abundant resources available on earth that is imperative to our understanding of the existence of life and is the commonest solution regularly used by humans in scenarios where temperature is a relevant factor.
Because vast swathes of humanity live at or near sea level, where we already arbitrarily nominate the level of atmospheric pressure to be 1 ATM.
While K has a natural zero-point, the gradation (by your logic) is entirely arbitrary as well because it’s based on C and not some other cosmological constant.
Cethin@lemmy.zip · 0 pts · 24d
I know why water was chosen. Brine also has characteristics that are useful. My point was that it's just one (specific version of a) molecule at one specific altitude, and pressure varies, so there is no true "sea level pressure". It is not a concrete thing where zero means zero.
Metric I love. C is not metric though. It's an SI unit, but not metric, as often as those are conflated. It doesn't have any fundamental advantage over F.
ViscloReader@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 23d
"<0°C" => snowy weather and my freezer is working properly is a good advantage
fartographer@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 23d
I can't be certain that this is the exact reason, but I believe it's because metric units are based on measurements of fresh water at sea level. 1 kg = 1 litre = 1 m³ of fresh water at sea level. If fresh water at sea level has been used to standardize everything else, then why wouldn't you use it as the standard to calibrate a scale of 0 (least water movement) to 100 (most water movement)?
The problem with using K back when ⁰C were being standardized is that it's really really difficult to get your hands on some absolute zero. Also, since we generally use ⁰C to measure things here on Earth, I'd argue that the basis for C is just as arbitrary as the basis for metric. I think the equivalent of arguing for K over C would be to argue for light years or astronomical units over kilometres.
Cethin@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 23d
I'm not arguing for K over C. I'm arguing that C and F are both fine. People acting like C is fundamentally better are mistaken. They're both just setting 0 as some useful value that we can still go below.
Temperature is a measure of movement. If we can continue to lower or raise the temperature, these are not the lowest or highest values for movement.
And people arguing for C because it's metric are just wrong, because it isn't metric. It's frequently used by the same people who use the metric system, but it isn't metric. The metric unit for temperature is K.
I agree that K is impractical. C and F have far more utility in everyday life. In my opinion, they're both fine. For cooking, I tend to think in C. For weather, I tend to think in F. They're both just arbitrary choosing useful values, and this means they're both useful for different things.
fartographer@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 23d
You know what? This is completely on me. I put words in your mouth by saying that C is just as reasonable as m, l, and g, but at no point did you voice support one way or the other. For all I know, your arguments across the spectrum may be based on absolute values. Perhaps you prefer measurements for time and distance based on the hyperfine transition of hydrogen, and weight based on atomic mass.
I was pushing the rationale that arguing for metric units, which are based on freshwater at sea level, but against C, which is also based on (the perceived states of) freshwater at sea level, is an inconsistent argument. But, once again, you didn't push that narrative; I made assumptions and attributed that narrative to you.
ThisUsernameKillsFascists@piefed.social · 1 pts · 23d
Fahrenheit is an extremely useful temperature scale for the lives of humans - 0 and 100 each representing the approximate extreme (cold and hot respectively) beyond which significant exposure is dangerous to human life
agent_nycto@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 24d
Attacking the person and not the argument is an ad hominem fallacy.
athatet@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 24d
You got some proof the OP is American?
halcyoncmdr@piefed.social · -13 pts · 24d
God forbid the units used by the average person in everyday life are easily divisible by whole numbers, not resulting in things like infinitely repeating decimals.
justOnePersistentKbinPlease@fedia.io · 14 pts · 24d
Yeah, thats why metric is better. Sigfigs are better than fractions and weird conversions.
halcyoncmdr@piefed.social · -4 pts · 24d
Ah yes, measuring out anything into thirds is awesome with metric. Nothing ever needs to be split into thirds.
nightlily@leminal.space · 5 pts · 24d
What happens in American customary units if you need to split it into 7ths?
Fawkes@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 24d
Good point. Splitting things in to 3rds is the most common function of everything. Why, just the other day I was building a box. I started by measuring the largest face of the backplate and subtracting the thickness of the side plates so I could figure out the internal volume. Most people would have done a simple equation like x-y but I prefer to do 3((x/3) - (y/3)). It's a much cleaner method.
justOnePersistentKbinPlease@fedia.io · 1 pts · 24d
Significant Figures. Things are rarely one third down past 3-4 sigfigs. Maybe 6+ if you're being really precise or EDMing a part.
bjorney@lemmy.ca · 9 pts · 24d
Yeah I hate when I have to convert temperatures between systems, and then the nice round numbers that represent common values used in everyday life like 0, 20, 30, 40, and 100 become absolutely nonsensical values like 32, 68, 86, 104 and 212
Metric measurements are only decimals in North America because things are fabricated to be round imperial numbers for the American market. When you buy a piece of lumber in Europe it's cut to 45x95mm which (shockingly) converts to the absolutely nonsensical 1.77165x3.74016 inch two by four
halcyoncmdr@piefed.social · 0 pts · 24d
Ah yes, nice round numbers there as well with metric. Why isn't it just 50x100mm? And that conversion is not even the imperial measurement of a 2x4, and you clearly don't understand where the dimensions come from.
There are nominal dimensions, and actual dimensions for lumber. The name 2x4 is the nominal dimension, the rough size before drying and planing. Between the forest and the hardware store, a board loses material twice.
A log goes through a sawmill and gets cut into rough boards. At this point, a 2x4 really is about 2" x 4". Green (freshly cut) wood contains 30% or more moisture.
The boards go into a kiln where hot air drops the moisture content to about 19%, as water leaves the cells, the board shrinks. The dried boards are rough and uneven. A planer shaves all four sides smooth. S4S (Surfaced Four Sides) means all four faces are planed. The planer removes another 1/8" or so from each face.
Result: a board that started at 2" x 4" ends up at a standard measurement of 1-1/2" x 3-1/2".
Now to get back to the metric equivalent... that 45x95mm board... starts with a nominal dimension of 47x100mm. Neither the nominal or actual dimensions are nice round numbers here, although at least the actual dimensions at the end are a multiple of 5. Why some places also refer to these as a 2x4, well they're the equivalent even though the actual size is completely unrelated.
UK example
bjorney@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 24d
Not sure why you assumed I didn't already know that (I did), but thanks for the completely pointless off topic essay I guess
Wizard_Pope@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 24d
God forbid units used by the average person in everyday life are easily converted between, not resulting in things like 'how many feet are in a mile'.
milkisklim@lemmy.world · -3 pts · 24d
Wizard_Pope@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 24d
The main conversions would be betwren meters and centimeters ot in your case feet and inches. Those happen way more often.
And as soon as you get slightly out of most everyday lives but still quite everyday into the realm of unit conversion betwren different things like volume, speed, power what have you imperial just falls apart.
cepelinas@sopuli.xyz · -17 pts · 24d
You angered the fascists with this one xD.
Dookieman12@piefed.social · 14 pts · 24d
Oligarchs hijack the government to oppose the will of people, obviously that means every single US American wholeheartedly supports their oppressors. You must read so many books to be that smart.
cepelinas@sopuli.xyz · -14 pts · 24d
You really easily fall for ragebait, don't you?
agent_nycto@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 24d
Make a comment that doesn't do well
Cry and say you were ragebaiting like that's a thing people like or are ok with
Curl up alone and night and wonder why
cepelinas@sopuli.xyz · -5 pts · 24d
Jesus I just made a joke
agent_nycto@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 24d
Wow joking about a fascist takeover that's eroding freedom and killing people on a global scale?
Maybe not your best decision of the day.
cepelinas@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 24d
Yeah it definitely was not. I am pretty stupid and bad at jokes.
Proprietary_Blend@lemmy.world · -17 pts · 24d
Nice! You're my first elitist, eurotrash, shithead block of the day! Good work, Pierre!
nightwatch_admin@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 24d
Thank you, would you then like some info on the old British monetary system? Fartings, guineas, halfpences and the likes?
Takapapatapaka@tarte.nuage-libre.fr · 36 pts · 24d
🤓 Technically there are septante, octante/huitante, nonante, but it's either considered local to some region (belgium, switzerland, etc) or old-school
plyth@feddit.org · 24 pts · 24d
That's the crazy part.
aldhissla@piefed.world · 9 pts · 24d
Septante, huitante, nonante
🇨🇭🇨🇭🇨🇭
LegoBrickOnFire@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 24d
What the fuck is wrong with people believing "octante" is used anywhere??? This is so prevailing. As far as I know no-one on earth uses "octante". We say "huitante" And the belgians were undecisive and still use "quatre-vingt"
Takapapatapaka@tarte.nuage-libre.fr · 4 pts · 24d
It seems to be the old-school version for france. I'll edit the comment !
LegoBrickOnFire@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 23d
Re-reading my comment, I seen that it seems a bit mean, sorry. I just cannot believe how widespread this misconception is.
Takapapatapaka@tarte.nuage-libre.fr · 1 pts · 22d
No worry, its understandable. Im not using those terms regularly so you were in the right position for pointing out this one does not exist anymore.
Hapankaali@lemmy.world · 25 pts · 24d
Four score and seven years ago...
Glytch@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 24d
...flows better and sounds grander than "Eighty seven years ago".
Stupidmanager@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 24d
BigBenis@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 23d
"Four-point-three-five score years ago"
randomname01@feddit.nl · 23 pts · 24d
Nonante does exist in Belgian French!
massive_bereavement@fedia.io · 12 pts · 24d
So does in Switzerland, Congo and Vallée d'Aoste.
Limonene@lemmy.world · 22 pts · 24d
Quatre vingt dix nuts lol gottem
Rekonok@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 24d
Basé et nombre pilé
Slayan@lemmy.ca · 20 pts · 24d
Tough, though, throw, trough, thorough, through, thought.
naticus@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 23d
I'm charging you with assault.
Kennystillalive@feddit.org · 18 pts · 23d
Septante, huitante et nonante
Leviathan@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 23d
The correct way.
Scrollone@feddit.it · 2 pts · 23d
Found the French Swiss
Kennystillalive@feddit.org · 2 pts · 23d
*Swiss-french.
We optimized French like we optimized German.
Enkrod@feddit.org · 1 pts · 23d
Bwahahahahaha
Jacob_Mandarin@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 23d
And belgium
farfalla@jlai.lu · 2 pts · 23d
that
We should conspire to put this un use in all francophony
Bloomcole@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 23d
Mordred_vat@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 23d
Afaik Belgians don't use huitante, Swiss people do
Armand1@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 24d
I love having to use 4 words to describe the number 99 (cope)
BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk · 4 pts · 24d
Quatre vingt dix neuf is hands down my favourite french number. It's only one syllable more than ninety nine.
tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 24d
syllables are weird
ryper@lemmy.ca · 14 pts · 24d
Captain Picard is French so he ought to be in a better position to answer the question than most of us.
Small_Quasar@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 24d
Captain Picard and his brother were sent off to an old fashioned English boarding school by their luddite father that didn't allow them to transport home in the evening or weekends, thus their English accents (my head canon).
Picard's brother became indoctrinated into the same fucked up luddite philosophy and didn't even allow 24th century fire safety technology in his home, leading to the death of him, his wife and his son due to a fire (actual canon).
sem@piefed.blahaj.zone · 3 pts · 24d
I liked when they got drunk together though
Smoogs@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 24d
we talking picard or stewart?
replicat@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 24d
Considering we don't have 24th century fire tech yet I'm guessing this is about Star Trek.
Smoogs@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 24d
hey speak for yourself
pseudo@jlai.lu · 14 pts · 24d
That is a proper base-20 heritage. May you live to six-twenties.
Treczoks@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 23d
Just ask the Danish how to "calculate" their word for 90, and you will consider the French approach simplicistic.
daddycool@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 23d
90 = Half fives.
50 = Half sixty.
70 = Half (I don't even know how to translate this)
kungen@feddit.nu · 5 pts · 23d
Huh? 50 is halvtreds (20 * 2.5)
70 is actually halvfjerdensindstyve, literally "half to the four(th20) times 20". So the base number (20) * 3.5...
The problem is, Danish people can't understand each other even with the simplest of words, so they just say halvfjerds.
Scrollone@feddit.it · 2 pts · 23d
70 = halfway to the fourth twenty
In other words, three twenties are 60, four twenties are 80, halfway between them is 70.
Same for the other ones: 50 is halfway to the third twenty, 90 is half more than the fourth twenty.
Scrollone@feddit.it · 3 pts · 23d
In a way, Danish is more clear than French, because all numbers between 50 and 90 are based on the vigesimal (base-20) system.
Treczoks@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 23d
Oh yea, "half to five" aka 4.5 times 20. Very intuitive...
AI_toothbrush@lemmy.zip · 12 pts · 24d
Brother, thats nothing, have you seen their vowels? Vowel chart is insane:
And also they distinguish diphtongs(like ai in pain), hiatus (like saying pain but saying it like "pa" from "papa" and then "in") and even fucking glides so "ai" and "aj" are not the same 💀
Edit: Fixed the image with LogicalDrivel@sopuli.xyz 's help
LogicalDrivel@sopuli.xyz · 12 pts · 24d
Just barely.
AI_toothbrush@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 24d
Oh lol sorry, its an svg and i cant convert it, im on phone rn.
LogicalDrivel@sopuli.xyz · 11 pts · 24d
No worries, i got you.
AI_toothbrush@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 24d
Nah bro came through 🙏
Vespair@lemmy.zip · 11 pts · 24d
Did you say four-twenties? 🍁💨😏
Glytch@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 24d
Ten before half four, blaze it
decolo@piefed.social · 3 pts · 24d
four twenties nine... four twenties ten... four twenties eleven ...
BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk · 3 pts · 24d
Four twenties ten nine thank you very much
Hansae@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 9 pts · 23d
Lol wait until you find out about the Danish counting system, truly unhinged.
BlaestEgnen@feddit.dk · 8 pts · 23d
What's wrong about it?
Halvfjerds, half fourth. Clearly that's seventy.
But it's short for halvfjerdsindstyvende. Half fourth's in twenties. Yep that's seventy my friend
AEsheron@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 23d
I assume the name refers to the fact that you are halfway to the fourth twenty from the third?
BlaestEgnen@feddit.dk · 1 pts · 23d
Yep, that's it
Hansae@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 23d
When I learnt Danish the number system legit took me far longer than anything else xd, maths classes were certainly interesting.
Scrollone@feddit.it · 1 pts · 23d
You learnt the reason why they call it that way, but Danes don't think that way. They just know that 60 is called tres, that's it.
weps@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 23d
Belgians are better at French than the French
Mordred_vat@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 23d
Swiss people do. Belgians still use four-twenty, alongside septante and nonante, which is a whole other level of absurd
massive_bereavement@fedia.io · 7 pts · 24d
The celts counted in twenties, none of your roman bs.
Thrillhouse@piefed.social · 6 pts · 24d
Is this actually the reason why?!
rants_unnecessarily@piefed.social · 6 pts · 23d
"French" does indeed have them, it's just that the French don't use them. Luckily the Belgians do.
rumba@lemmy.zip · 6 pts · 23d
Me in high school french:
70: soixante-dix ohhh trippy, 60 10, why not start at 50, that's strange so 80 will be soixante-vingt (60 20) right? ... right?
80: quatre-vingt 4 20's?
but why 60 20 and then 4 20?
IndustryStandard@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 23d
Quatre-vingt blaze iet
SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org · 2 pts · 23d
Seems like my lifelong hatred for the French was justified after all!
rumba@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 22d
LOL, They weren't so bad. I even went to Paris. TBH, I think the American tourists over there was much worse :) Prisians give off an NYC leave me the fuck alone vibe.
culprit@lemmy.ml · 5 pts · 24d
So do French stoners just tell each other "80 dude" or "90 everybody" if its a big party?
Batman@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 23d
Back in Frances time these were large numbers. One million five hundred thousand one hundred eight, like ???? That's how people in the future will look at you when you say that number in English. Stop counting people, our brains are not meant for this
sem@piefed.blahaj.zone · 3 pts · 24d
Boards of Canada
replicat@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 24d
Very familiar with BOC but I have no idea what you mean here. Can you explain this?
sem@piefed.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 23d
I say this with absolute respect -- this is not the context to find out.
Frenchgeek@lemmy.ml · 3 pts · 24d
Because trolling predate the Internet.
SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 24d
English doesn't have proper words for 13 to 19.
dharmacurious@slrpnk.net · 4 pts · 24d
I'd argue we do have proper words for 13-19, but don't have proper words for 11&12
sem@piefed.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 24d
Base 12 represent!
dharmacurious@slrpnk.net · 2 pts · 24d
Don't you mean base 10 ;)
sem@piefed.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 23d
You're annoying, but thats what you wanted right?
dharmacurious@slrpnk.net · 2 pts · 23d
I mean, I was being a pedantic ass, but I was trying to be playful about it.
sem@piefed.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 23d
Hehe yeah, and i was trying to give you a playful hard time too :p
Tone is hard via text.
dharmacurious@slrpnk.net · 2 pts · 23d
It really is haha
aaa@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 24d
I feel like most other European languages I have heard do not either. (Well, what is "proper" anyways?) Care to share a language that does?
SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 24d
You need to ask OP. I'm just using "proper word" within the same context that OP is using.
BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk · 2 pts · 24d
I'd guess ten one, ten two, ten three
SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 24d
Thirteen is basically just three-ten, fourteen is four-ten, etc.
BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk · 1 pts · 24d
I do understand that, but equally it doesn't follow the convention we use for the rest of the numbers.
sem@piefed.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 24d
Wat
cholesterol@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 23d
70 = Sixty-ten? Ridiculous, it's obviously half-fourths.
percent@infosec.pub · 2 pts · 23d
Yeah Danish is a bit wild with numbers too.
Karmanopoly@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 23d
But 70,80,90 are English numbers
AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 23d
It comes from way before French. Some tribe, Celts, or whatever, call them Gauls, although it doesn't really mean anything other that "people who live in that area according to the Romans", counted in twenties. And that's one of the things they've left us. For better or for worse.
lawks@aussie.zone · 1 pts · 23d
That and Asterix.
Hadriscus@jlai.lu · 2 pts · 23d
Parce qu'on a eu la Gaule trop longtemps !
daannii@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 24d
What do you think "seven -ty" is. Seven ten
CultLeader4Hire@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 24d
Yes, seven, ten times not sixty plus ten more
daannii@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 24d
Ohhhhh. I misread that 👍
hansolo@lemmy.today · 3 pts · 24d
In French:
70 is said "sixty ten" so 72 is "sixty twelve."
80 is "four twenties."
90 is "four twenties and a ten" so 99 is "four twenties and nineteen.
slazer2au@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 24d
Just wait until you find out how the Dutch count.
v_krishna@lemmy.ml · 10 pts · 24d
Dutch tens are all pretty "normal" do you mean Danish? (Danish uses a x20 math for 60 and 80, but then 50, 70, and 90 are 2.5*20, 3.5*20, 4.5*20, except they dropped the "times 20" in the words over time)
Hapankaali@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 24d
Dutch timekeeping, on the other hand...
What time is it? Why, ten before half 4, of course. A very normal and sane way of telling the time.
BlaestEgnen@feddit.dk · 1 pts · 23d
There's so many normal ways to tell the time in Danish, so your above example does occur in spoken language
slazer2au@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 24d
The Dutch say the final number before the second last. 23 in Dutch is pronounced 3 and 20, 64 is 4 and 60.
Annoying AF.
basxto@discuss.tchncs.de · 3 pts · 24d
English still does this for numbers <20
Germanic languages also have fun names for 11 and 12, which basically mean "one left over" and "two left over".
ViatorOmnium@piefed.social · 3 pts · 24d
So does Danish, they just add the weird math on top because they had to beat both French and German.
Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 24d
En means "one". - OK
Og means "and." - OK
Halvfems means "ninety" (short for four and a half times twenty). - WTF
ViatorOmnium@piefed.social · 2 pts · 24d
What's wrong with "five hundred five and fifty thousand five hundred five and fifty"? /s
Alph4d0g@piefed.social · 1 pts · 24d
Pronunciation of words like fauteuil. French saw -euil and apparently decided to play a sick joke on the rest of the world.
zaphod@sopuli.xyz · 3 pts · 23d
I'm not sure what you mean, -euil is something like "-œij" which is perfectly regular.
Alph4d0g@piefed.social · 1 pts · 23d
That's a good point. Very intuitively pronounced indeed. It would be absurd for someone not to know based on spelling alone.
melsaskca@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 23d
He shoots, he four-scores!
Noodle07@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 23d
And look how far we got without it, it's all in your head buddy
SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org · 1 pts · 23d
Country burning to a crisp because of the climate armageddon? Far indeed.
Noodle07@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 23d
Same as everywhere else 🤷
BlackLaZoR@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 23d
Ask german how 9999 is written
Echo5@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 24d
What did you expect from the French
Manticore@lemmy.nz · 0 pts · 23d
Unlike English when the name for those is seven-tens, eoght-tens, nine-tens?
Or "four score (20) and seven years ago" (4x20, +7= 87)
Or Roman numerals being like XIV (10, + (5-1) = 14)
.....the numbers have always been maths. Always