Katre-van-deez-nuts

Ha! Je les ai eu!

Context:

German:

• "siebenundneunzig"
• = "sevenandninety"

English:

• = "ninety-seven"

French:

• "quatre-vingt-dix-sept"
• = "four-twenty-ten-seven"

French Belgians 90 + 7

Not to defend the French but the more correct representation would be 4 * 20 + 10 + 7.

Also if you take this meme to the extreme it would be best to just say “97” which requires a unique word for every number instead of a system to construct them. So I guess there is a balance to be struck in number composition.

Can't let this go by without posting this classic:

Counting to 100 in french with a NYC cabbie.

Lincoln: 4 * score + 17

80 (quatre-vingt) comes from the base 20 system. That's a vestige from pre indo-European languages (specifically the Gauls) that ended up influencing France.

Interestingly (if I'm not mistaken), in Switzerland they actually say "huitante" and in Belgium they say "octante".

And the French get offended if you use the wrong word. I went to a shop there and asked if something was ninety (there is a word for that). The shopkeeper gives me a scathing look and says with emphasis it's four twenty ten.

Japanese: 9*10+7

Growing up bilingual in German and English, can I just say german's "7 + 90" is pretty dumb too.

397 is 300 + 7 + 90: 100s 1s 10s. For bigger numbers you're doing it repeatedly.

In German for every set you're saying the digits and tens in the wrong order. You get used to it, but only if you grow up in Germany (I didn't), else it forever does you head in reading numbers.

🚫🤢fr*nch🤮🚫

XCVII

In old French, 127 was 6*20+7.

It's the fact of using base 20.