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submitted 2 years ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[-] [email protected] 157 points 2 years ago

What's going on in Denmark?

[-] [email protected] 233 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

It's base 20 like in France, plus the quirk that we have an ordinal numeral way of saying half integers, i.e. 1.5 is "half second", 2.5 is "half third", 4.5 is "half fifth". So 92 is said as "two and half fifth times twenty". We've since made the "times twenty" implicit for maximum confusion, so it's just said as "two and half fifths".

Also, the ordinal numeral system for halves is only really used for 1.5 these days, so the numbers don't really make sense to anyone. When speaking to other Scandinavians, we often just say "nine ten two".

Why don't we just change it to the more sensible system then? Because language is stubborn.

[-] [email protected] 102 points 2 years ago

Now imagine moving there as a foreigner from a normal country and someone telling you their phone number! It's like having a micro stroke.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

When you need a math degree for basic communication

[-] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago
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this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2023
771 points (98.0% liked)

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