“Half fifth” IS 4.5. the confusing part is that in modern Danish 90 has been shortened from 4.5 * 20 to just 4.5. I.e. halvfemsnstyve has become has become halvfems.
Fems is the short as you say, but that isn’t really possible to translate correctly. Thats why people translate it to fifth. The proper danish for a fifth is en femtedel. I might be mistanken here, but I dont think any dane would ever talk about 4.5 as halv fem (half five), but as fire komma fem.
The exception is when we talk about the time in the nordics. Then half passes four is half five.
Yea. Today nobody knows the meaning of the numbers unless they’ve seen a video about how silly the rest of the world finds it. Now they are just words.
The only remnants of half-somethingth, meaning half away from something, is “halvanden”; half-second meaning 1.5. You might hear “I can totally drive, I’ve only had half-second beer (the limit is two)”, but you will never hear any other number.
That one at least makes some sense: halfway to seven vs seven and a half. The more confusing ones are quarter seven (6:15) and three quarter seven (6:45). If you didn’t learn to tell time with an analog clock it can throw you off since they are the opposite of eg quarter to seven. It’s even worse - in German it’s a regional thing, and they’ll look at you as of you’ve grown a second head if you use a form they’re not used to.
Denmark: Seven and half fifth twenteis
What?
Half fifth isn’t 4.5 but 90 because of 4.5 * 20. Its the same with half third being 50 and half fourth is 70.
That is not correct. I assume you are Danish?
“Half fifth” IS 4.5. the confusing part is that in modern Danish 90 has been shortened from 4.5 * 20 to just 4.5. I.e. halvfemsnstyve has become has become halvfems.
Norwegian, but I was tought this by a dane.
Fems is the short as you say, but that isn’t really possible to translate correctly. Thats why people translate it to fifth. The proper danish for a fifth is en femtedel. I might be mistanken here, but I dont think any dane would ever talk about 4.5 as halv fem (half five), but as fire komma fem.
The exception is when we talk about the time in the nordics. Then half passes four is half five.
Dane here. We don’t use half-third to say 2½ except for the time of day, like half-twelve is 11:30.
The way we count is indeed that way though: halvfems is short for halvfemsindstyve, literally half-five-times-twenty, meaning ½5×20 = 4.5×20 = 90.
We don’t use “fems” tough. That would mean femsindstyve which is 5*20 and we say a hundred of course.
So we have this:
There is a relic from this system still in use: halvanden (1 and a half). Though I doubt many people know the origin of the word.
Yea. Today nobody knows the meaning of the numbers unless they’ve seen a video about how silly the rest of the world finds it. Now they are just words.
The only remnants of half-somethingth, meaning half away from something, is “halvanden”; half-second meaning 1.5. You might hear “I can totally drive, I’ve only had half-second beer (the limit is two)”, but you will never hear any other number.
How about in telling time? Like half seven means 7:30 in British English but is 6:30 in Dutch and German
That one at least makes some sense: halfway to seven vs seven and a half. The more confusing ones are quarter seven (6:15) and three quarter seven (6:45). If you didn’t learn to tell time with an analog clock it can throw you off since they are the opposite of eg quarter to seven. It’s even worse - in German it’s a regional thing, and they’ll look at you as of you’ve grown a second head if you use a form they’re not used to.
american time keeping for the win in this case.
Yes. Because there are only 12 hours in a day…
No American measurements make sense.
Well i was talking about the lack of relative time. It is clear if you say 6:30
Absolutely retarded
Kamelåså
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-mOy8VUEBk