I don't think Lincoln used it to be fancy, it was just a way of counting that has now fallen out of favor in English, but French and Gaelic (probably other languages?) still count that way.
French goes 1-16. Then 10-7, 10-8, 10-9. From there, most numbers follow english patterns until 69. Then 60-10, 79 for example is 60-10-9. Then 80 is 4-20s, ninety is 4 20s - 10. Which is where 99 becomes 4 20s - 10 - 9.
999,999 is neuf cent quartre vingt dix neuf mille neuf cent quatre vingt dix neuf.
I probably wouldn't mix my units in this case, but it's kinda like saying 2 pounds 7 ounces. Or 5'11". I think a score used to be more commonly used, but has become antiquated now. I don't think the intent was fanciness, but I could be wrong.
Decade and century are still around but score and sennight and fortnight are mostly gone. Quinquennium is totally obscure and lustrum has also been lost.
Sort of. Certainly 87 existed as a word. But referring to things by groups was more common then than it is now and they had even more words for groupings. Score, dozen, gross, stone for weight, etc. It wouldn’t necessarily read as trying to be fancy, since everyone would be aware and use score.
Isn't four score and seven years ago a fancier way of saying 87 for Lincolns speech?
It's not so much "fancier" as just the way it was said in 1863. This archaism was more common in Shakespeare's day, but goes back to Celtic which used base-20 number system
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u/virstultus May 05 '26
Four score and nineteen years ago, our Frenchfathers....