Originally archaic, of course. But these days it's also poetic. "Twenty-four blackbirds" would not maintain the meter/metre. ;-)
Sent from my iPhone > On Mar 9, 2017, at 18:16, Bill Woodger <bill.wood...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Four-and-twenty is not poetic, it is archaic, with continuing regional use in > the UK. Although probably originally more thorough, I've only heard it used > with 20. I grew up with five-and-20-past and five-and-20-to for the time. I > didn't pick it up myself. Also for non-time things, but only with 20. > > What's the French for 83? Four-twenties-three. What if the 360 had been > developed in Toulon, or Lincolnshire (the real one)? > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
