• @[email protected]
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    24
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    23 days ago

    English used to be that way as well:

    Sing a song of sixpence

    A pocket full of rye

    Four and twenty blackbirds

    Baked in a pie.

    In these lyrics “four and twenty” means 24

    • Norah - She/They
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      1023 days ago

      Which actually makes sense when you remember that English, before the Normans at least, was very close to dutch.

      • @Dicska
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        1523 days ago

        And it’s all because they are germanic languages (at least old English is), and this is the same in German (vier und zwanzig).

        • @samus12345
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          723 days ago

          Modern English is still a Germanic language, but with a LOT of Latin and French thrown in.

      • @qarbone
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        023 days ago

        Yeah, and then we got better

          • @qarbone
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            423 days ago

            They made a successful cipher that has thwarted their enemies into perpetuity.