The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #164255   Message #3929501
Posted By: Jos
06-Jun-18 - 02:38 PM
Thread Name: BS: Odd, rare words
Subject: RE: BS: Odd, rare words
Saying 'five-and-twenty past ...' is an example of putting the smaller number first, which my elderly relatives used to do, but it isn't really a case of base 20 counting.
I've not heard anyone calling 4.30 'ten-and-twenty past', or 4.50 'two-score-and-ten past'.