British Numbers confuse Americans – Numberphile

British Numbers confuse Americans – Numberphile

Title changed for Grey!!!
Two Americans living in England discuss the numeric nuances which cause them problems.
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Featuring… Uber YouTuber CGPGrey – http://www.youtube.com/user/CGPGrey

Linguist Lynne Murphy – http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.co.uk/

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Music by Alan Stewart – http://www.youtube.com/user/AlanKey86
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50 Comments

  1. ananomous Person on February 13, 2021 at 5:14 am

    8:50
    wHy



  2. Hex_ on February 13, 2021 at 5:14 am

    I just use ‘second’ when counting seconds, in a rhythm that makes it long enough (I think anyway, never actually checked it).



  3. Vipul Singh on February 13, 2021 at 5:15 am

    Well we indians also say double numbers and I think we got it when we were colonised



  4. Joe H.S on February 13, 2021 at 5:16 am

    I love how Grey’s accent hasn’t changed a bit despite living in London for a decade.



  5. ananomous Person on February 13, 2021 at 5:18 am

    Who TF thought giving cgp grey a month



  6. N. Jonas Figge on February 13, 2021 at 5:18 am

    Some Germans will say "einundzwanzig, zweiundzwanzig, …" which is just counting twenties.. I always get confused when i want to count more than 10 seconds 🙈😄



  7. Thomas Brown on February 13, 2021 at 5:20 am

    Elephant



  8. Steve on February 13, 2021 at 5:21 am

    Oh I always love the BS reasons to add a comment. Nobody actually cares about the comment. Just be honest that you want any old random comment because it helps the video and channels visibility. Why not just tell us to type in a random sentence instead.



  9. Seth M-T on February 13, 2021 at 5:22 am

    000000000 is clearly "Oh Nought Zero Double Nought Zero Triple Oh"



  10. Stefan Heid on February 13, 2021 at 5:23 am

    In German you start counting at 21, because from 20 on all 2 digit numbers are created equally not thinks like "eleven" or "one".



  11. Luis Gonzalez on February 13, 2021 at 5:23 am

    We have a flag on the moon so our way is always the correct way.



  12. Lime - Die Comedygoldminen. Humor, hab ich Recht? on February 13, 2021 at 5:23 am

    A bit late but in Germany we count "21, 22, 23, etc." to elongate "1, 2, 3"



  13. kevin cordier on February 13, 2021 at 5:23 am

    00, double zero. 000, triple zero. 0000, double zero, double zero ect.



  14. Sean Jackson on February 13, 2021 at 5:25 am

    Sort of related, but I can’t believe they did not mention how mathematics in American English becomes math and Mathematics in British English becomes maths



  15. DrTeeth on February 13, 2021 at 5:26 am

    You say “treble” and not “triple”.



  16. Tatty Lashes1 on February 13, 2021 at 5:28 am

    Yes Triple



  17. Dr. A on February 13, 2021 at 5:29 am

    This is a budget friendly clip drawn on a brown paper bag.



  18. CoolAsFreya on February 13, 2021 at 5:30 am

    I’m a musician so I count seconds the way you count semiquavers "one-y-and-a two-y-and-a three-e-and-a" which I can count seconds pretty accurately with



  19. Dr. Gino on February 13, 2021 at 5:31 am

    the term ”thirty eight hundred” came from the dutch ”drieenvijtig honderd” when they were still trading with america. The dutch found it easier to say it that way as it was more familiar to them. New Amsterdammers adapted to this.



  20. Joe H.S on February 13, 2021 at 5:34 am

    The way Grey is animated is really jarring and uncanny



  21. Conner O'Malley on February 13, 2021 at 5:34 am

    1 alligator always works too



  22. Chris Lee on February 13, 2021 at 5:35 am

    53 hundred should clearly be referred to as 5 point 3 times ten to the power 3.



  23. luka :D on February 13, 2021 at 5:37 am

    WHY DOES HE HAVE A MOUTH?! 𝙒𝙃𝙔 𝘿𝙊𝙀𝙎 𝙃𝙀 𝙃𝘼𝙑𝙀 𝙀𝙔𝙀𝙎❔❕



  24. Paul Svensson on February 13, 2021 at 5:37 am

    Very late reply to this video. The thing with the numbers going in opposite directions has to do with the direction you drive or walk when you pas through the street. If you come in from the north side in a downward direction, then the odd numbers start low there since they are the first ones you encounter. If you enter from the south in the upward direction, the even numbers will start low there since they are the first you encounter. So whenever you drive on a road, the numbers on your side will always progress from low to high.



  25. Abdul Haseeb on February 13, 2021 at 5:37 am

    Anyone else a steamboat kind of person? e.g. "one steamboat, two steamboat"



  26. Simon Drew on February 13, 2021 at 5:40 am

    One thing you didn’t cover on the subject of the difference between American and British english is the use of the word ‘couple’. In the UK, we always refer to ‘a couple of things’, whereas Americans would say ‘a couple things’, in just the same way as ‘a few things’.



  27. Haweo Heen on February 13, 2021 at 5:40 am

    I’m not a Brit but i say five thousand three hundred



  28. Mango 4ttwo on February 13, 2021 at 5:41 am

    of crs, Brits say 19hundred for year date: or Nineteen Eighteen for 1918. and 2001 is basically because of the Kubrick film. Since 2010, Brits have reverted to the English form of saying Twenty Ten, Twenty Eleven. And q right, too



  29. Japps Obvs on February 13, 2021 at 5:45 am

    The numbers on the streets don’t go the opposite direction. The end of the street nearest the town hall (assumed centre of a town or city) starts at 1 on the left as you move away from the centre. That way as you add more houses further from the centre you never run out of numbers. “B” numbers are properties which are inserted after the next number has already been built.



  30. Capitano Steve on February 13, 2021 at 5:48 am

    Haven’t these guys heard of James Bond double O 7



  31. Funken Drumble on February 13, 2021 at 5:51 am

    Come on, Yanks! Double-0 7 has been around decades!!!



  32. Chris Lee on February 13, 2021 at 5:52 am

    Isn’t anyone going to mention American date formats while we’re at it…
    mm/dd/yy
    Like seriously…wtf?



  33. TelepathicFish on February 13, 2021 at 5:52 am

    TRIPLE O



  34. Mango 4ttwo on February 13, 2021 at 5:53 am

    I say triple



  35. MrSirCarl on February 13, 2021 at 5:54 am

    Count by "Hippopotamus"



  36. Mister Myself on February 13, 2021 at 5:57 am

    So only the nimrod Americans move to England? Or, just the ones that stick out. It is a simple instruction double the number. Double means 2. Triple means 3. Not difficult.

    I have heard it in phone numbers usually the last four. People make all kinds of links there.



  37. Matt Usher on February 13, 2021 at 5:58 am

    House numbers – old fashioned British humour….probably!



  38. Phoenix1666 on February 13, 2021 at 5:59 am

    As a Brit I do use “Eleven hundred” but it starts at “eleven hundred” and ends at “nineteen hundred”.
    1000 is “one thousand” and 2000 is “two thousand”.



  39. thio59 on February 13, 2021 at 6:01 am

    in Dutch we say instead of mississippi:

    EEN (entwintig) TWEE (entwintig) DRIE (entwintig) VIER (en twintig)

    So if we want to count seconds, many of us would not count one two three four but twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, kind of mumbling the twenty part in our heads as it has more or less the right length of a second.



  40. idfitter on February 13, 2021 at 6:01 am

    Curious to know where in the UK the house numbers go the opposite way on the other side and don’t line up? The general rule is odd numbers down one side and even down the other.



  41. Gaurav Pokharel on February 13, 2021 at 6:02 am

    I think CGP was being a bit overreactive huh?🤔



  42. Nicholas Aitken on February 13, 2021 at 6:03 am

    I did "One little second"



  43. Om Pandya on February 13, 2021 at 6:05 am

    7:11 In India we say it as tick tick 1 tick tick 2…



  44. Firy Stikman on February 13, 2021 at 6:08 am

    I use banana to count seconds, got it from a science museum during a lunar eclipse event



  45. Kyle Reese on February 13, 2021 at 6:10 am

    Fifty-three hundred is no problem coming from an automotive enthusiast’s point of view. I’ve had a lot of cars with x100 tachometers.



  46. Brian Gower on February 13, 2021 at 6:10 am

    Americans are weird…making something out of nothing and over complicating things…



  47. Hapmaplapflap gap on February 13, 2021 at 6:10 am

    I count seconds in twenties. (twenty 1 twenty 2 twenty 3 … )



  48. Potato on February 13, 2021 at 6:11 am

    Fifty three hundred? Five thousand three hundred? Nah nah, five point three k



  49. Felix Markus on February 13, 2021 at 6:11 am

    In Germany, when you stand next to house number 7, you’ll see either 6 or 8 on the other side of the road.
    Also, we have lots of letters. Sometimes you have 32, 32a until 32h or something.



  50. Darthnova1313 ! on February 13, 2021 at 6:12 am

    Count by thousands so 1 1000, 2 1000, 3 1000, ect… Or 1000 an 1, 1000 an 2, 1000 an 3, ect… Never 1001, 1002, 1003, ect…