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. :)

> 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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