----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark J. Reed" <markjreed@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 9:05 PM
Subject: Re: The English/French counting system (WAS: number systems from
conlangs)
> On Mon, Sep 15, 2003 at 03:46:48PM -0400, Isidora Zamora wrote:
> > FYI, Danish does something similar but not identical to French in
counting
> > in twenties and half-twenties. There were a lot of numerical issues for
me
> > to get used to in speaking Danish. They have a few interesting idioms
for
> > telling time as well, and one of these would cause me to show up for
> > appointments at the wrong times until I had mastered it.
>
> Tell me about it. The British use of, e.g., "half eight" to mean
> "half PAST eight" drives me nuts. I automatically think of it in terms of
> the German "halb acht", which means SEVEN thirty, and therefore used to
> show up an hour early for meetings with my British boss before I got
> used to it.
Heh. You'd think the English usage would be more natural to an
English-speaker. I get confused by the Germans saying halb acht. Better to
arrive an hour ealy than an hour late ;-)
> -Mark
>