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Charles Wukasch's avatar

Typo: "linguisits" should be "linguists."

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Charles Wukasch's avatar

RE: Brands' interesting essay "Nothing to brag about: The invention of zero," I just now reread it.

Brands correctly points out that all languages seem to have some logic in their counting systems. However, I'm reminded of my Russian classes at UT ages ago and how the Russian word for "40" was "сорок," which doesn't follow the rule. The dictionary says "Inherited from Old East Slavic сорокъ (sorokŭ, “a bunch of 40 sable pelts; forty”). Another interesting word (and I'm showing my age again) is the archaic (in this context) word "bit": a unit of 12 1/2 cents. I still remember people saying things like "can I borrow two bits from you?" It's still used (what linguisits call a "fossilized form") in the cheerlead: "Two bits, four bits, six bits a dollar! All for [fill in name of team], stand up and holler!"

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