Counting by 10s vs. 20s

[Joel S. Berson]

At 8/23/2013 03:41 PM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
>Wait -- which colonials? What colonies did the French have in the Middle
>Ages?

No, the untutored colonial vassals of the Roman Empire, who when
freed from its harsh rule and its rigid and unfeeling decimal system
returned to the natural state of counting by threes, fours, eights
(fingers without thumbs), twelves, sixteens, and twenties.

Joel


>DanG
>
>
>On Fri, Aug 23, 2013 at 1:41 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: Counting by 10s vs. 20s
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > At 8/23/2013 10:51 AM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
> > >To me, the interesting question is why any move to a system based on 20
> > >took place when the Romans did not use one. What caused the change?
> >
> > Resistance of oppressed colonials to imperial prerogatives.  As was
> > the cause of the American Revolution.
> >
> > Joel
> >
> >
> > >DanG
> > >
> > >
> > >On Thu, Aug 22, 2013 at 9:11 PM, W Brewer <brewerwa at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > > -----------------------
> > > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > > Poster:       W Brewer <brewerwa at GMAIL.COM>
> > > > Subject:      Re: Counting by 10s vs. 20s
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > >
> > > > JB: <<Did  European serfs of colder Northern Europe wear shoes,
> > > > while the peasants of warmer Southern Europe went barefoot?>>
> > > > WB:  And Honest Abe kept score on fingers & toes. Too simple an
> > > > explanation. Must get social scientists to amass data, organized into
> > > > volumes of biometrical tables verified by ANOVA. Only then will
> > everyone
> > > > forget what the question was and the problem goes away.
> > > >
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