Lie of the Day #569
May 29th, 2008 by FweebWhile ancient people were able to grasp the concept of the number zero fairly early on in history as well as much larger numbers, it’s ironic that it actually took until the late 1400’s for mankind to understand the values eleven and twelve. Scientists have theorized that this might have something to do with the fact that people could count to ten on their fingers, but somehow got confused for a few digits after ten. Regardless of the reason this may be, this is precisely why the numbers eleven and twelve don’t match the other numbers in the teens (thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, etc.) with their conspicuously missing “-teen” suffix. Also, there is a very strong chance that this has a great deal to do with why thirteen is considered an unlucky number.
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