Numbers Proposal

[Dréu Gavárþic'h]

Already posted on tlang, just thought I'd repost it here so that those who don't check tlang could see it:

Okay, so I've been doing a lot of thinking about el glhetg and I believe that we must, not should, must make it more distinct! That is why I have posted the Talossafont proposal. My second proposal is about the use of numbers in el glhteg. I believe that we should change the base of our counting system from 10 to 60 (so that we could count up to 59). Yes, that would possibly mean creating new numbers for 10 through 59, but, it would make Talossan a more interesting language to study, and makes us seem sumerian/babylonian...which can't be bad!

Dreu

[Capt. Sir Mick Preston]

the problem with that is you would have a very difficult time interpreting the Statue and Organic laws into the Talossan counting system.

[Dréu Gavárþic'h]

that's a very good point, but we wouldn't change the Talossan English counting system, just the Talossan one, it's actually not that difficult, look: if 10 is A and 11 is B and so on until you get to 36 is which is Z and then double the letters so 37 is Aa 38 is Bb etc., then 100 is simply:
1Ee (Think about it: 1=59 Ee=42, 59+41=100)

it's as easy as that...though I don't think we'd use those letters and double letters, we'd invent something a bit more interesting.

[Dréu Gavárþic'h]

Also, it's not like the calendar would change, the first of the month is still the first of the month, but the tenth of the month is now the Ath of the month, the eleventh is the Bth of the month.

Bases are always something that have interested me immensely

[Capt. Sir Mick Preston]

It's gonna be incredibly difficult to do any type of math.

For example, how old are you in Base 60?

And how long will it be before you are 21 ?

[Dréu Gavárþic'h]

Okay, So I just turned 14, so I am:

D years old, right?

Okay, now, 21 is:

L years old right?

now L-D =7

simple, I did that in about 30 seconds. You just have to learn how to think the right way, or if you don't want to think that way, you can always just do the subtraction in base 10 and then convert each number afterwards.

[Capt. Sir Mick Preston]

Not simple at all.


What year were you born, and what year will you turn 21?

I don't think we need a base 60 counting system.

[Dréu Gavárþic'h]

I was born in 1993:

there are four columns for this

In base 10 it would be:

The one's (10^0) column - 3
The ten's column (10^1) - 90
The hundred's column (10^2) - 900
The thousand's column (10^3) - 1000

In Base 60 we it would be:

The one's (59^0) column: J (46)
The 59's (59^1) column: X (59x33)
The 3481’s (59^2) column: 0
The 205,379’s (59^3) column: 0

So XJ = 1993

I think we don't need it, but it would make us much more quirky and interesting if we did.
If anything Base 60 would actually simplify the currency situation, plus it does save you two strokes: XJ (two strokes) v. 1993 (four strokes)

[Dréu Gavárþic'h]

If necessary, we could create a base 60 calculator/converter (though i'm sure there already is one)

[Sir Alexandreu Davinescu]

That is asinine. I would suggest you language guys focus on making the language accessible, as was the previous focus, and not deliberately making it impossible to learn.

[Dréu Gavárþic'h]

agbdavis said:

That is asinine. I would suggest you language guys focus on making the language accessible, as was the previous focus, and not deliberately making it impossible to learn.

I think you're just angry that we want math involved! ;D well...I'm not one of "those language guys" so I'm going to run away now crying...

[Xhorxh Asmour]

Dreu, the problem is, we are reforming the Glhetg (very carefully) just to make it more regular and easier to learn, but we don't intend to touch its fundaments.
A language - even an artificial one - can't be monkeyed around by everyone. Talossan has been quite stable for a long time and we want to make it even more stable, so that it won't have to suffer substantial changes now and then.
The normal way a language evolves is, the people who speak it and write it keep creating new terms and idioms that are more or less generally accepted or rejected by its users.
I've spent 35 years creating my own conlang to make sure it wouldn't need any substantial changes.

[Dréu Gavárþic'h]

very well. I withdraw my numbers proposal.