Re: Numbers ancient & modern (was: Unilang report)
| From: | Tristan Alexander McLeay <zsau@...> |
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| Date: | Wednesday, May 23, 2001, 8:07 |
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> > I've seen "a half a hundred" in English once or twice.
>
> In Larry Niven's sf novel _Ringworld_, the quite striking phrase
> "half a thousand years" is found.
That doesn't strike me as striking. I'd often say 'half a hundred' for 50,
'half a thousand' for 500, 'half a million' for 500,000, etc. Or is the
problem with 'half an X', I've noticed that americans tend to say 'a half X'
(not as nice to my ears, as it often has two stressed syllables next to each
other.
Tristan
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