Welsh has a Vigesimal and Decimal counting system and both are used for different purposes. The decimal one is very logical eg ten, one ten one, one ten two, one ten three … two ten, two ten one etc etc
The Vigesimal system is different…
Ten
One on ten
Two on ten
Three on ten
Four on ten
Fifteen
One on fifteen
Two on fifteen
Two nines
Four on fifteen
Twenty
Add to that that numbers can be gendered, mutate at the start or drop the end depending on a number of rules, or just randomly throw in an extra option eg 50 is “ten and two twenty” Vigesimal or “five ten” Decimal… but often you’d use “half hundred”…
My understanding is that this is surprisingly common, but has died out in many languages.
Welsh has a Vigesimal and Decimal counting system and both are used for different purposes. The decimal one is very logical eg ten, one ten one, one ten two, one ten three … two ten, two ten one etc etc
The Vigesimal system is different…
Add to that that numbers can be gendered, mutate at the start or drop the end depending on a number of rules, or just randomly throw in an extra option eg 50 is “ten and two twenty” Vigesimal or “five ten” Decimal… but often you’d use “half hundred”…
My understanding is that this is surprisingly common, but has died out in many languages.
Normally I don’t support English imperialism, as the root of the majority of the modern world’s evils, BUT