A Better Thought

Normalized English Numbers

- January 18, 2021

Goal:

Make English numbers more consistent and easier to learn with a minimal set of changes.

How:

1. For any occurrence of 7, say "sev" instead of "seven".
2. For any number involving 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90,
   say "onety", "twoty", "threety", "fourty", "fivety", "sixty", "sevty", "eighty", and "ninety".

Examples:

		10	onety	20	twoty	30	threety	40	fourty
1	one	11	onety-one	21	twoty-one	31	threety-one	41	fourty-one
2	two	12	onety-two	22	twoty-two	32	threety-two	42	fourty-two
3	three	13	onety-three	23	twoty-three	33	threety-three	43	fourty-three
4	four	14	onety-four	24	twoty-four	34	threety-four	44	fourty-four
5	five	15	onety-five	25	twoty-five	35	threety-five	45	fourty-five
6	six	16	onety-six	26	twoty-six	36	threety-six	46	fourty-six
7	sev	17	onety-sev	27	twoty-sev	37	threety-sev	47	fourty-sev
8	eight	18	onety-eight	28	twoty-eight	38	threety-eight	48	fourty-eight
9	nine	19	onety-nine	29	twoty-nine	39	threety-nine	49	fourty-nine
50	fivety	60	sixty	70	sevty	80	eighty	90	ninety
51	fivety-one	61	sixty-one	71	sevty-one	81	eighty-one	91	ninety-one
52	fivety-two	62	sixty-two	72	sevty-two	82	eighty-two	92	ninety-two
53	fivety-three	63	sixty-three	73	sevty-three	83	eighty-three	93	ninety-three
54	fivety-four	64	sixty-four	74	sevty-four	84	eighty-four	94	ninety-four
55	fivety-five	65	sixty-five	75	sevty-five	85	eighty-five	95	ninety-five
56	fivety-six	66	sixty-six	76	sevty-six	86	eighty-six	96	ninety-six
57	fivety-sev	67	sixty-sev	77	sevty-sev	87	eighty-sev	97	ninety-sev
58	fivety-eight	68	sixty-eight	78	sevty-eight	88	eighty-eight	98	ninety-eight
59	fivety-nine	69	sixty-nine	79	sevty-nine	89	eighty-nine	99	ninety-nine

7	sev
77	sevty-sev
777	sev-hundred-sevty-sev
7777	sev-thousand-sev-hundred-sevty-sev
77777	sevty-sev-thousand-sev-hundred-sevty-sev
777777	sev-hundred-sevty-sev-thousand-sev-hundred-sevty-sev

Benefits:

• All single digits have one syllable.
• All double digits have three syllables - except that 0 is silent.
• The "teens", 13-19, are pronounced left to right instead of right to left.
• The oddball "teens", 11-12, are consistent with the other numbers.
• All tens-place digits use the same name as the ones-place digits.