Usenet Posted 22 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.
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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.
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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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