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Usenet Posted 21 years ago
Usage
Three-and-twenty
Numbers such as "three-and-twenty" are frequently found in Jane Austen's novels (1). It seems a notation similar to German's ("drei und zwanzig", right?).
I would be interested to know from when it dates as well as when it ceased to be used.
(1) e.g. "Pride and Prejudice", chapter 1:
"Mr. Bennet was so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour, reserve,(2) and caprice, that the experience of three-and-twenty years had been insufficient to make his wife understand his character".
(2) So Jane used the Oxford comma, if I understood what it is reading your recent discussion.
Bye, FB
Conversation like television set on honeymoon: unnecessary. (Murder by Death)
I would be interested to know from when it dates as well as when it ceased to be used.
(1) e.g. "Pride and Prejudice", chapter 1:
"Mr. Bennet was so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour, reserve,(2) and caprice, that the experience of three-and-twenty years had been insufficient to make his wife understand his character".
(2) So Jane used the Oxford comma, if I understood what it is reading your recent discussion.
Bye, FB
Conversation like television set on honeymoon: unnecessary. (Murder by Death)
Top answer
[nq:1]Numbers such as "three-and-twenty" are frequently found in Jane Austen's novels (1). It seems a notation similar to German's ("drei ... ) I just had a look at the archives because I thought that one of the times this had come up before, someone found a good usage paragraph in a dictionary, but I don't see it.
- [nq:1]Numbers such as "three-and-twenty" are frequently found in Jane Austen's novels (1).
- It seems a notation similar to German's ("drei ...
- ) I just had a look at the archives because I thought that one of the times this had come up before, someone found a good usage paragraph in a dictionary, but I don't see it.
- What I saw is that these this topic gets merged right in with "how to tell time" and "unnecessary use of 'and' in numbers" and this group can talk endlessly about those things, let me tell you.
- Anyway, I suggest you look at the archives yourself, searching for posts that contain both "one and twenty" and "twenty-one".
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38 Answers
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[nq:1]Numbers such as "three-and-twenty" are frequently found in Jane Austen's novels (1). It seems a notation similar to German's ("drei ... humour, reserve,(2) and caprice, that the experience of three-and-twenty years had been insufficient to make his wife understand his character".[/nq]
It's a tough idea to look up, seeing as how there are 72 different numbers of that form (one-and-forty,
It's a tough idea to look up, seeing as how there are 72 different numbers of that form (one-and-forty,
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[nq:1]Numbers such as "three-and-twenty" are frequently found in Jane Austen's novels (1). It seems a notation similar to German's ("drei und zwanzig", right?).[/nq]
Yes.
[nq:1]I would be interested to know from when it dates as well as when it ceased to be used.[/nq]
Hard to look up, but my understanding is that three-and-twenty is the older form, and twenty-three is an innovation due
Yes.
[nq:1]I would be interested to know from when it dates as well as when it ceased to be used.[/nq]
Hard to look up, but my understanding is that three-and-twenty is the older form, and twenty-three is an innovation due
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I tend to believe that when Jane Austen says
"three-and-twenty" it's a stylistic flourish making use of a form that she knows is somewhat archaic.
"three-and-twenty" it's a stylistic flourish making use of a form that she knows is somewhat archaic.
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[nq:2]Yes. Hard to look up, but my understanding is that ... Housman's "When I was one-and-twenty" is at most mildly conservative.[/nq]
[nq:1]I tend to believe that when Jane Austen says "three-and-twenty" it's a stylistic flourish making use of a form that she knows is somewhat archaic.[/nq]
So that would mean she would ordinarily use the modern form, right? Unless she had reason to sound
[nq:1]I tend to believe that when Jane Austen says "three-and-twenty" it's a stylistic flourish making use of a form that she knows is somewhat archaic.[/nq]
So that would mean she would ordinarily use the modern form, right? Unless she had reason to sound
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[nq:1]I took at quick look at some of the searchable databases. Rhymezone shows that Shakespeare used "one and twenty" (no ... 232 As usual, there are some false hits (like "twenty-ONE AND TWENTY-two"). But not enough to sway the count much.[/nq]
And seven and ten,
(but note the comma)
Jan
"Taking tree as the subject to reason about,
A convenient number to state
We ad
And seven and ten,
(but note the comma)
Jan
"Taking tree as the subject to reason about,
A convenient number to state
We ad
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[nq:1]"Taking tree as the subject to reason about, A convenient number to state We add Seven, and Ten, and then ... you see, By Nine Hundred and Ninety Two: Then subtract Seventeen, and the answer must be Exactly and perfectly true.[/nq]
Oh, whenever the Emperor
Got into a temper, or
Felt himself sulky or sad,
He would murmur and murmur,
Until he felt firmer,
This curious r
Oh, whenever the Emperor
Got into a temper, or
Felt himself sulky or sad,
He would murmur and murmur,
Until he felt firmer,
This curious r
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[nq:1]Oh, whenever the Emperor Got into a temper, or Felt himself sulky or sad, He would murmur and murmur, Until ... Carry four, And then it's time for tea. (The Emperor's Rhyme in Now We Are Six , A.A. Milne)[/nq]
I suppose with tea the Emperor will have four and twenty blackbirds.
I suppose with tea the Emperor will have four and twenty blackbirds.
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[nq:2]I tend to believe that when Jane Austen says "three-and-twenty" it's a stylistic flourish making use of a form that she knows is somewhat archaic.[/nq]
[nq:1]So that would mean she would ordinarily use the modern form, right? Unless she had reason to sound constantly archaic, such as if she was writing medieval adventures - which she was not.[/nq]
Maybe rather than wanting to sound a
[nq:1]So that would mean she would ordinarily use the modern form, right? Unless she had reason to sound constantly archaic, such as if she was writing medieval adventures - which she was not.[/nq]
Maybe rather than wanting to sound a
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[nq:2]She had more than one way of saying numbers (she does use both) and since then, one of those ways has gone out of fashion.[/nq]
[nq:1](Numerous examples redd with interest and omitted) I wonder how the writings of some of Jane Austen's contemporaries would compare ... - 1817): Marquis de Sade (1740-1814) Henry Fielding 1707-1754 Wordsworth, William, 1770-1850 Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft
[nq:1](Numerous examples redd with interest and omitted) I wonder how the writings of some of Jane Austen's contemporaries would compare ... - 1817): Marquis de Sade (1740-1814) Henry Fielding 1707-1754 Wordsworth, William, 1770-1850 Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft
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[nq:1]I wonder how the writings of some of Jane Austen's contemporaries would compare with hers in regard to the use ... as a girl: Scott, Sir Walter, 1771â??1832 Laurence Sterne, 1713-68 What other well-known (except to me) contemporaries did she have?[/nq]
A bunch of poets came along a few years younger than Jane:
Byron, 1788-1824
Shelley, 1792-1822
Keats, 1795-1821
who
A bunch of poets came along a few years younger than Jane:
Byron, 1788-1824
Shelley, 1792-1822
Keats, 1795-1821
who
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