• ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.de
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    1 year ago
    # 🇩🇰
    1 en
    2 to
    3 tre
    4 fire
    5 fem
    6 seks
    7 syv
    8 otte
    9 ni
    10 ti
    11 elleve
    12 tolv
    13 tretten
    14 fjorten
    15 femten
    16 seksten
    17 sytten
    18 atten
    19 nitten
    20 tyve
    21 enogtyve
    22 toogtyve
    30 tredive
    40 fyrre
    50 halvtreds
    60 tres (threes)
    70 halvfjerds (½fourths)
    80 firs (fours)
    90 halvfems (½fifths)
    92 tooghalvfems (twoand½fifths)
    100 hundred

    In Czech, we say „čtvrt na osm“ (quarter to eight), „půl osmé“ (half of eighth) and „tři čtvrtě na osm“ (¾ to eight) to mean 19:15, 19:30 and 19:45, respectively, so I kinda get it.
    Similarly, in German, 🕢=„halb acht“.

    • Bruno@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      TIL that it not French with the weirdest way to count. I still don’t really get the Danish way. Even with your explanation.

      • ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.de
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        1 year ago

        It’s not really an explanation, just a table where I leave the linguistically inclined to figure it out. The point is, the “s” at the end is short for “×20” and “half fifth” is short for ●●●●◖ = 4½ (four and half of the fifth).

          • abecede@feddit.de
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            1 year ago

            Maybe the Danish don’t just count with their fingers to 10, but include their toes… So 10 fingers + 10 toes = 20?

            • vidarh@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              "Four score and seven years ago"‍ from the Gettysburg Address… Many languages have or had words for counting in 20’s. They’ve just mostly gone out of fashion.

    • thelastknowngod@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Funny enough, I grew up saying “quarter of eight” to mean 19:45. It took until my mid-20s to realize its probably a regional thing because, after I left Philadelphia (my home city) and moved to Chicago, everyone thought I meant 20:15.

      • Vacationlandgirl@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Oh! In New England “quarter of” is 15 minutes before the hour (19:45) and “quarter after” is 15 minutes after the hour (20:15). That might explain why my colleagues in Alabama were surprised when I left a meeting at 9:45 when I had clearly warned them I had a hard stop at quarter of ten!

        Interesting distinction none of us picked up on!

    • Uncle_Bagel
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      1 year ago

      Thats pretty common in terms of time. I’m not going to say something is “half five” to say it coststwo and a half dollars though. I understand that with French and Danish you arent actually doing the math and just think of that string the same way i think of “ninety two” but it’s still difficult to wrap my head around.

      • Bumblefumble@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Just to make something clear, in this system, which isn’t really used, half five would be 4.5, not 2.5.