French Kings of Maths
( published 26th November 2002 )
www.alexandrino.com

Hi All,

I thought Brits should be the kings in maths due to their capacity to measure in imperial system, and not the metric one, but I can see that French are not bad either. It's my friend Pi ( her real name is Senhora Doutora Fifi 3.14 ) who reminded me of it yesterday. The French say soixante for sixty, nothing extraordinary, but then they say soixante-dix ( sixty-ten ) for seventy. Then they say soixante-treize ( sixty-thirteen ) for seventy three. Funny, isn't it? But even better they say quatre-vingts ( four-twenty or 4 times 20 ) for eighty ( how boring in English ). And quatre-vingt dix ( 4 times 20 + 10 ) for ninety ( English, yaaaawn ). And so the common ninety three becomes 4 times 20 + 13: quatre vingt treize. And for a non-French person the simple calculation 93-78 will become (4X20+13)-(60+18)=...errr...hmm I need coffee!

Have a nice day
Alex


After a long night of making love, the young guy rolled over, pulled out a cigarette from his jeans and searched for his lighter. Unable to findit,he asked the girl if she had one at hand."There might be some matches in the top drawer," she replied. He opened the drawer of the bedside table and found a box of Matches sitting neatly on top of a framed picture of another man. Naturally, the guy began to worry. "Is this your husband?" He inquired nervously. "No, silly," she replied, snuggling up to him. "Your boyfriend then?" he asked. "No, not at all," she said, nibbling away at his ear. "Well, who is he then?" demanded the bewildered guy. Calmly, the girl replied, "That's me before the operation."

www.alexandrino.com

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