Re: Cardinal vs Ordinal Age
| From: | dansulani <dansulani@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Tuesday, November 4, 2003, 9:53 |
|---|
On 4 Nov, Ray Brown wrote:
> Ordinals seem favored by people when they reach that time when they no
> longer try to hide their age but rather wish to boast of their longevity.
> Certainly IME nongenarians are likely to say "I'm in my 93rd year" rather
> than the tamer "I'm only 92". :)
Interesting. Yet little children who boast about how big
they are use cardinal numbers (in English and Israeli Hebrew).
Even earlier, when they can barely count, little kids who
hold up fingers to tell how old they are, are also using
cardinal numbers. Possibly because kids learn cardinal
numbers before ordinal numbers. Would this be a
language universal?
Dan Sulani
---------------------------------------------------------
likehsna rtem zuv tikuhnuh auag inuvuz vaka'a.
A word is an awesome thing.
Replies