• ArcaneGadget@lemmy.world
      12·
      8 months ago

      Yeah, this problem comes up with 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90 in Danish, because those are counted in “number of twenties” for some reason. And not like “3-and-a-half-twenties” but rather “halfway-towards-the-fourth-twenty”. That example is 70 by the way (halfjersindstyvende). And nowadays it’s shortened to omit the “twenties”-part. So in this case just “halvfjers”.

      The naming convention is pretty whack, but it’s just treated as irregular naming in normal use. The alternative, would be to rename those numbers to femti, seksti, syvti, otteti, and niti, but that’s very much an uphill battle against habit. So for now. 50, 60, 70, 80, and 90 just have unique names…

      • pragmakist@kbin.social
        21·
        8 months ago

        Yeah, and it’s wrong.
        Nioghalvfems is 9 + 1/2 * 5 * 20!
        NOT that silly 9+(4+1/2)*20.

        What do they take us for? Calculators?

          • ArcaneGadget@lemmy.world
            5·
            8 months ago

            The graphic is correct. “Halvfems” is shorthand for “halvfemsindstyvende” which roughly means; halfway to the fifth twenty. So 4,5 or 4-1/2 “twenties” so 90. But nobody rally thinks about that. To most Danes “halvfems” is just the name for 90, just like ninety is in English…

            • Pilon23@feddit.dk
              1·
              8 months ago

              It should rather be 9 + (5 - 1/2) * 20. Halvfems is halfway from 4 to 5, but the 5 is the value explicitly mentioned

              • ArcaneGadget@lemmy.world
                2·
                8 months ago

                Yes. That is what i said? “Halfway to the fifth” which i clarified to mean 4,5 in this context, so as to not be confused to mean 2,5.

                • Pilon23@feddit.dk
                  1·
                  8 months ago

                  Yeah 5-1/2 is 4.5, but the word “fems” is short for femsindstyvende, which means 5x20, so writing it out as (5-1/2) rather than 4.5 matches the word halvfems more closely. Could also write it out as (-1/2 + 5) i suppose

          • lugal@lemmy.ml
            2·
            8 months ago

            Not Dane here but I know this:

            “fems” is “five twenties”

            “halvfems” is “halfway (between 4*20 and) 5*20” = 90

            But don’t forget that 100 has its own word and isn’t fems, still 90 is halvfems.

  • idiomaddict@feddit.de
    15·
    8 months ago

    Who says 100-1? I can’t find the lilac on the map, but it seems very reasonable and I support this.

  • Blaze@dormi.zoneOPEnglish
    13·
    8 months ago

    For people asking why France is split, they used Occitan for the southern part, which I think is an interesting choice to show the regional language even if most people don’t speak it.

    • flamingo_pinyata
      9·
      8 months ago

      Not ideal, though. A mixed area would have been better. Acknowledging Occitan is important but it gives the false impression that a majority speaks it. And it goes way too north.

      • Blaze@dormi.zoneOPEnglish
        2·
        8 months ago

        It seems to go that north because it includes the local language west of Switzerland? You see the Nonante-neuf overlapping

  • Rikudou_Sage@lemmings.world
    7·
    8 months ago

    So, are we (Czechia) the only ones who use more than one way?

    90+9 (ninety-nine literally) is the formal way to do it, while 9+90 (nine-and-ninety literally) is the informal way. You can easily hear both of the ways used in one sentence.

    • Nikko882@lemmy.world
      3·
      8 months ago

      Norway as well. 90+9 is the official way, 9+90 is the way from when the Germans occupied the country. Both are still used. The map also says Georgia and Finland also use two variations.

    • blargerer@kbin.social
      2·
      8 months ago

      9 and 90 appears in English but reads extremely archaic, you’d basically never run into it in modern speech.