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

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark J. Reed" <markjreed@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 9:31 PM
Subject: Re: The English/French counting system (WAS: number systems from
conlangs)


> M = me
> J = Joe
>
> M> The British use of, e.g., "half eight" to mean
> M> "half PAST eight" drives me nuts.  I automatically think of it in terms
of
> M> the German "halb acht", which means SEVEN thirty, and therefore used to
> M> show up an hour early for meetings with my British boss before I got
> M> used to it.
>
> J> Heh.  You'd think the English usage would be more natural to an
> J> English-speaker.
>
> Well, if it were an American usage or I were English, I'm sure it'd
> be much more natural to me :).  But I'd honestly never heard anyone
> tell time that way before I met the particular gentleman I'm working
> for now.  Whereas I did learn the German method when studying that
> language, and my brain made the connection wholly without consulting
> me first.
>
> In any case, I don't see any logical reason why "past" rather than
> "until" should be the default when the preposition is omitted, and
> simple arithmetic tells us "half eight" is obviously LESS than
> eight. But at least I didn't follow that route to its logical
> conclusion and arrive at 4AM. :)
Because no-one says 'half until eight', that's why.  It's just the omission
of a common word, to make things quicker.

> > Better to arrive an hour ealy than an hour late ;-)
>
> Sure.  But in the case of first-thing-in-the-morning meetings, I'd
> much rather get the extra hour of sleep. :)
>
> -Mark
>

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