[Arm-netbook] possessive "it's"

[Albert ARIBAUD]

Bonjour,

Le Fri, 9 Sep 2016 17:42:17 +0100
Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton <lkcl at lkcl.net> a écrit:

>  in french, the number "98" is *five syllables* with a massive amount
> of physical effort required to morph the mouth between some of the
> syllables!  qua-tre vingt dix huit.  pronounced "ka-tr-uh va-i-ngg
> dee-ss-wh-ee-t" and translated in english "four-twenty ten-eight"!!

Yep -- that's a legacy from the Gauls IIRC, who made a habit of counting
in twenties, which we kept in part (why in part only is one of those
marvellous mysteries of language). But we're slowly getting better: in
older times, counting in twenties was way more pervasive, with for
instance a famous hospital being named "quinze-vingt" (literally :
fifteen twenties) because it could accommodate 300 beds.

<nag mode ON>

OTOH, we French have primed the use of the metric system before 1800
while even today the British and Americans (among others) insist on
using some imperial system(s). :)

</nag>

(I can't help smiling every time I re-read the footnote in _Good Omens_
about the old British currency system and how the Brits considered the
decimal currency system /too complicated/ to adopt.) 

Amicalement,
-- 
Albert.