• rumba@lemmy.zip
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    7 hours ago

    e a word that just means 80 in people’s mind, it kinda not literal anymore, but the Swiss and Belgian ways are still better (edit the 4x20+10 is s

    And if it was 28 syllables, it would still be 80 in people’s minds. But the words are still four twenty ten eight for what could easily just be nine eight.

    I get it, but it is really inefficient for something as oft used as counting.

    If it makes you feel better, English is full of crap like that which doesn’t make any sense and I’ll own that as a trash language :)

    • Nariom@lemmy.world
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      2 hours ago

      Yeah that’s why i say the Belgian and Swiss ways are better, their French speakers have dedicated words for 70 80 90. That being said I not sure but I guess in a lot of languages those words just mean 7x10 8x10 9x10 … we understand base 10 better but that’s still a calculation in disguise, historically (and still in some cultures?) base 10 isn’t the norm (hence the 4x20 among others).