My maternal grandparents were born in the United States. Grandmother and Grandfather speak English an Hungarian.
Bilingual ?
- Thread starter CanadianLori
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I am quite happy with metric or Imperial; weight, volume, or linear. Not sure about American measures, I have the feeling they sometimes use the same words for different measures. I can also handle nautical miles. I did have an advantage, I grew up with 12d equals 1/-, 20m1/- equals £1, 240 pence in a pound, 6/8d equals a third of a pound, 13/4d is two thirds of a pound. When you grow up with a system like that everything else is child's play.
Note the origin, in Medieval times a pound weight of silver was worth one pound. A pennyweight was one two hundred and fortieth of a pound weight, so a penny coin was actually a pennyweight of silver. Shillings were of Teutonic origin, one twentieth of a pound of silver.
There are actually some advantages to a twelve base system, 1,2,3,4,6,8,9,10, are fractions of 12 its only 7 and 11 that don't work.
When I was a boy there were still silver coins in circulation, and one ounce of silver coinage was worth 5/-, so four ounces were worth a pound sterling, with sixteen ounces in a pound that meant about 400% inflation in about a thousand years. A pound of silver at today's prices, about seventy years later, is a bit over £300. Hmmm.
Linguistically I speak bad French, a mixture of Andalusian, Catalan and Castilian, and a smattering of Japanese
Note the origin, in Medieval times a pound weight of silver was worth one pound. A pennyweight was one two hundred and fortieth of a pound weight, so a penny coin was actually a pennyweight of silver. Shillings were of Teutonic origin, one twentieth of a pound of silver.
There are actually some advantages to a twelve base system, 1,2,3,4,6,8,9,10, are fractions of 12 its only 7 and 11 that don't work.
When I was a boy there were still silver coins in circulation, and one ounce of silver coinage was worth 5/-, so four ounces were worth a pound sterling, with sixteen ounces in a pound that meant about 400% inflation in about a thousand years. A pound of silver at today's prices, about seventy years later, is a bit over £300. Hmmm.
Linguistically I speak bad French, a mixture of Andalusian, Catalan and Castilian, and a smattering of Japanese