xkcd

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xkcd #2946: 1.2 Kilofives (xkcd.com)

submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Alt text:

'Oh yeah? Give me 50 milliscore reasons why I should stop.'

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago (1 children)

The second one is arguably not vigesimal but instead just an echo of the Germanic way of saying numbers that English has all but lost. You'd be surprised how long things will lurk around the fringes of a language despite not being the most popular way of saying things.

The fact it still makes sense probably helps too.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Could also just be trying to get the right number of syllables for the line. "Four and twenty" is one beat longer than "twenty four."

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Maybe I should have left in the aside I had about artistic license.