On Thu, May 21, 2015 at 1:35 PM, Mike Speciner <ms@alum.mit.edu> wrote:
Well, I remember my junior high French teacher having us count round-robin in French starting at one. The catch was that for every number that either had a seven in it, or was a multiple of seven, you were supposed to say "attention!" instead of the number. If you made a mistake, or took too long, you were eliminated, until one student was left. Keeping track of where you were when going through the seventies was particular hard.
Yeah, French numbers 70-99 are strange — combinations of 60 or 80 with 1 through 20 or 19: 70 soixante-dix 71 soixante et onze 72 soixante-douze 73 soixante-treize 74 soixante-quatorze 75 soixante-quinze 76 soixante-seize 77 soixante-dix-sept 78 soixante-dix-huit 79 soixante-dix-neuf 80 quatre-vingts 81 quatre-vingt-un 82 quatre-vingt-deux 83 quatre-vingt-trois 84 quatre-vingt-quatre 85 quatre-vingt-cinq 86 quatre-vingt-six 87 quatre-vingt-sept 88 quatre-vingt-huit 89 quatre-vingt-neuf 90 quatre-vingt-dix 91 quatre-vingt-onze 92 quatre-vingt-douze 93 quatre-vingt-treize 94 quatre-vingt-quatorze 95 quatre-vingt-quinze 96 quatre-vingt-seize 97 quatre-vingt-dix-sept 98 quatre-vingt-dix-huit 99 quatre-vingt-dix-neuf perhaps a macrocosm of how 17-19 don't follow the same pattern as 11-16. ——Dan