Wordie [wûrd • ē]
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first listed by:
Charlie (36 words)
appears in these lists:
Theme Prompts, by Arete
Love, by anydelirium
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Aha! That must be the answer!
Why twelves and not tens?
polydactyly resulting from inbreeding in the upper echelons of society who determined this kind of thing?
See?! Now that's the kind of weirdness I was questioning on the long ton page. Who the heck decided an hour would be 40 parts, divided into 12 ounces of 7.5 seconds each?
And, for that matter, who decided it would be 60 minutes, each made up of 60 seconds? Or that a day would have 24 hours instead of, say, 10? Why twelves and not tens?
I know! Who needs minutes? "So let's see...how 'bout we meet at the restaurant at 10 moments and 4 ounces after 5? And don't be late!"
I love the idea of time being measured in ounces.
This is a very momentous bit of information. I must find a way to incorporate it.
:-)
In the Middle Ages, a moment was a specific measure of time equal to 1/40 hour or 1.5 minutes, and was divided into 12 ounces of 7.5 seconds each.