Re: Cardinal vs Ordinal Age

Hmm. Isn't the phrase "Ani ben sh'loshim ve hhamesh" standard?

-- Yitzik

----- Original Message -----
From: dansulani
Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2003 11:34 AM

> 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.
>

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