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1. Devine Lu Linvega (neauoire@merveilles.town)'s status on Wednesday, 13-Apr-2022 02:13:22 UTC Devine Lu Linvega

   "IIII" What the heck?!

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   • clarity flowers (clarity@xoxo.zone)'s status on Wednesday, 13-Apr-2022 02:13:21 UTC clarity flowers

     in reply to

     @neauoire it's apparently pretty standard practice to use "IIII" on clocks

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   • 一色いろは Let's Go Brandon! (wzqtparor@mstdn.io)'s status on Wednesday, 13-Apr-2022 02:14:37 UTC 一色いろは Let's Go Brandon!

     in reply to

     The Mystery of Numerical Notation on the Dial Plate

     https://museum.seiko.co.jp/en/knowledge/trivia02/
     @neauoire

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   • Santa Claes 🇸🇪🇭🇰🎅 (clacke@libranet.de)'s status on Wednesday, 13-Apr-2022 02:17:36 UTC Santa Claes 🇸🇪🇭🇰🎅

     in reply to

     • 一色いろは Let's Go Brandon!
     @wzqtparor @neauoire In addition to the explanations given here for clock tradition in particular, I'd expect that numeral use back in antiquity was probably more chaotic than the rigid definitions we retro-use today.
   • frd💾 (fredbednarski@merveilles.town)'s status on Wednesday, 13-Apr-2022 02:39:18 UTC frd💾

     in reply to

     @neauoire As others said, it's common on clocks, as it neatly separates the clock face into thirds (four numbers only using I, four with V and four with X).

     Also, Romans didn't really follow a single way of writing numerals, both IIII and IV were valid ways to write four.

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   • ⛭ eiríkr ⛭ (d6@merveilles.town)'s status on Wednesday, 13-Apr-2022 02:42:32 UTC ⛭ eiríkr ⛭

     in reply to

     @neauoire yeah the romans weren't consistent about the roman numeral conventions, so you do see IIII, VIIII, etc. sometimes

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   • khm (khm@mastodon.sdf.org)'s status on Wednesday, 13-Apr-2022 08:18:08 UTC khm

     in reply to

     @neauoire clock face anarchy

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   • Zoé Bourdon 🏳️‍⚧️ 🌈 (euhmeuh@mamot.fr)'s status on Thursday, 14-Apr-2022 08:13:38 UTC Zoé Bourdon 🏳️‍⚧️ 🌈

     in reply to

     @neauoire Also 18 was sometimes written XIIX, especially for the 18th roman legion. And legion 22 was spelled IIXX because it was pronounced "duo et vicensima".

   • Santa Claes 🇸🇪🇭🇰🎅 (clacke@libranet.de)'s status on Thursday, 14-Apr-2022 08:13:38 UTC Santa Claes 🇸🇪🇭🇰🎅

     in reply to

     • Zoé Bourdon 🏳️‍⚧️ 🌈
     • Luci for Chai Tea
     Wow, this leads the circle back to the en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_o… near where I lived for a while.
     
     It seems to refute the idea that prefix notation was invented by English printers. Could still be true that the printers were more keen on and consistent at saving 'I's than the Romans were.
     
     Re: merveilles.town/@zens/10812279… @zens