Re: The English/French counting system (WAS: number systems from conlangs)

Joe scripsit:

> > If you wanted precision (or, as my Granfather would say: "Wanted to be
> > nice"), you would say: "Twenty three minutes past two".
>
> As in 'the nice and accurate prophecies of Agnes Nutter"?
"Nice" shows the most unbelievable semantic shifts.  Latin "nescius" means
"ignorant, not knowing"; in Middle English days it meant primarily
"foolish".  Modern English senses include "reticent" (obsolete),
"particular, choosy", "punctilious", "precise" (the relevant one here,
now most commonly in "a nice distinction"), "trivial" (obsolete),
"pleasing, agreeable" (the most usual meaning), "appropriate" ("not a
nice thing to say", e.g.), "well-bred" ("nice families", e.g.),
"virtuous" ("nice girls don't do that", e.g.), "respectable", "polite",
"kind" ("nice of you to say so", e.g.).  Whew!

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