Re: [Fwd: dozenal and hexadecimal digits]
| From: | John Cowan <cowan@...> |
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| Date: | Friday, May 12, 2000, 22:12 |
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Raymond Brown scripsit:
> Ach! vingt means "twenty", not "thirty two" & trente is "thirty" not
> "forty eight" etc.
In H.G. Wells's novel _The Sleeper Awakes_ the late 21st century has
switched to the duodecimal system. No mention is made AFAIK of the
digit shapes for ten and eleven, but we have some words:
dozen = 12, twaindy = 2*12, sixdoz = 6*12, sevendy = 7*12
gross = 12*12, dozand = 12*12*12, myriad = 12*12*12*12
We also have the phrase "oi Man huwdbi Kin", glossed as
"a man who would be king".
--
John Cowan cowan@ccil.org
I am a member of a civilization. --David Brin