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[-] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 55 points 9 months ago

Katre-van-deez-nuts

Ha! Je les ai eu!

[-] brbposting@sh.itjust.works 51 points 9 months ago

Context:

German:

  • "siebenundneunzig"
  • = "sevenandninety"

English:

  • = "ninety-seven"

French:

  • "quatre-vingt-dix-sept"
  • = "four-twenty-ten-seven"
[-] blanketswithsmallpox@lemmy.world 23 points 9 months ago

It's shit like that why I wonder people just don't update their languages, remove useless letters, nonsensical loan words exonyms, etc.

[-] grue@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago
[-] blanketswithsmallpox@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

... A dictionary? We already have those in English lol.

[-] grue@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

Oxford University Press doesn't have governmental enforcement powers the way the OQLF does.

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[-] JayObey711@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

German did. And it worked. One of the reasons is probably that written German is uniform everywhere. I imagine language reformes are harder and less effective when dialects are still big.

[-] Taigagaai@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

Like many things in life, languages aren't necessary logical but I'm looking forward to your efforts to finally get everyone into Esperanto!

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[-] theherk@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

We all do constantly with each word spoken. Language is updated without rest forever.

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[-] lemmy@lemmy.stonansh.org 36 points 9 months ago
[-] ours@lemmy.world 13 points 9 months ago

Same for Swiss French except for Geneva (of course).

[-] myster0n@feddit.nl 10 points 9 months ago

Not in Geneva? So what's the convention there?

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[-] arymandias@feddit.de 33 points 9 months ago

Not to defend the French but the more correct representation would be 4 * 20 + 10 + 7.

Also if you take this meme to the extreme it would be best to just say “97” which requires a unique word for every number instead of a system to construct them. So I guess there is a balance to be struck in number composition.

[-] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 9 months ago

also "ninety" is literally just a shortening of "nine ten", it's not like the french pronounce the whole thing either, i'd wager it usually comes out more like "katvandisett" which isn't much worse than "ninetyseven"

[-] Noodle07@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago

Actually we do prononce it entirely, at most dropping the first syllable

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[-] MrGerrit@feddit.nl 32 points 9 months ago
[-] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago

"We aren't all Eric Einstein!" 😂

[-] ShortFuse@lemmy.world 28 points 9 months ago
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[-] jinarched@lemm.ee 20 points 9 months ago

80 (quatre-vingt) comes from the base 20 system. That's a vestige from pre indo-European languages (specifically the Gauls) that ended up influencing France.

Interestingly (if I'm not mistaken), in Switzerland they actually say "huitante" and in Belgium they say "octante".

[-] fluckx@lemmy.world 9 points 9 months ago

In Wallonia ( french belgium ) you're also likely to hear "nonante" for 90 IIRC

[-] hakase@lemm.ee 4 points 9 months ago

The Gauls were Celtic, which is Indo-European. Maybe you meant "Pre-Romance"?

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[-] SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world 14 points 9 months ago

And the French get offended if you use the wrong word. I went to a shop there and asked if something was ninety (there is a word for that). The shopkeeper gives me a scathing look and says with emphasis it's four twenty ten.

[-] Vrijgezelopkamers@lemmy.world 22 points 9 months ago

'Nonante' is used in the French-speaking part of Belgium, but it's generally frowned upon in France.

[-] SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world 23 points 9 months ago

frowned upon

as in "you just wiped your ass with my language, my country and the history of my ancestors" it seems

[-] Vrijgezelopkamers@lemmy.world 9 points 9 months ago

They kind of stare at you as if you just farted in the most obscene way possible.

Or they passive-aggressively make you repeat what you said until you say it 'right'.

Or they reply in a kind of exaggerated broken English.

[-] The_v@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago

Not the ever so polite French!

I spent a lot of time in the country when I worked for a French owned company.

It's a beautiful country, too bad about the epidemic of sticks in their asses. I am so glad it hasn't spread to their neighbors.

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[-] Lord_ToRA@lemmy.world 9 points 9 months ago
[-] IWantToFuckSpez@kbin.social 25 points 9 months ago

Ninety also means 9*10 since -Ty has its roots in the old Gothic word tigjus which means tens/decades https://www.etymonline.com/word/-ty

That Japanese is also 9*10 is not really surprising since counting in most languages is in base-10

[-] hessenjunge@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 9 months ago

Same with the German ‘zig’ which is also mentioned in your linked page. It’s also used elsewhere e.g. “zigfach” meaning many times.

[-] MisterFrog@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago

Growing up bilingual in German and English, can I just say german's "7 + 90" is pretty dumb too.

397 is 300 + 7 + 90: 100s 1s 10s. For bigger numbers you're doing it repeatedly.

In German for every set you're saying the digits and tens in the wrong order. You get used to it, but only if you grow up in Germany (I didn't), else it forever does you head in reading numbers.

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[-] pigup@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago

🚫🤢fr*nch🤮🚫

[-] str82L@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago
[-] moitoi@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 9 months ago

In old French, 127 was 6*20+7.

It's the fact of using base 20.

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this post was submitted on 02 Feb 2024
495 points (94.8% liked)

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