Welcome, Wizened Word Wizards 
When You Need A Drink…
A pleasing little smile is available here, although it might take a second, or even longer, to get the joke, especially if you’re of the, umm… younger persuasion.
Some of you might just have a watch with something strange called Roman numerals, although even if you do wear a watch (I don’t), it will more than likely have normal numbers or just be digital like everything else these days, unfortunately.
Anyway, for my non-Latin speaking friends, the Roman numerals look something like this:
1 = I
2 = II
3 = III
4 = IV
5 = V
6 = VI
7 = VII
8 = VIII
9 = IX
10 = X
11 = XI
12 = XII
13 = XIII
14 = XIV
15 = XV
If you need any help working out how the legionaries arrived at the above ‘transformations’ (although it happened the other way around, of course), do I look like the prehistoric high school maths (or Latin) teacher you never had? I do? Oh dear… (Eheu?)
So, he’s holding up two fingers in the shape of a ‘V’, which is the Roman sign for 5, so there you go.
What? Why? Why what? Oh, why is a ‘V’ used to represent five in Latin?
Well, using single strokes for single numbers like I, II and III is easy enough to imagine – even the Romans counted on their fingers, it seems. Sequiturially, when they get to five, all the fingers on their hand are sticking up, with the space between their forefinger and thumb forming a ‘V’, so, for brevity’s sake… and the rest, as they say, is history.
Contribute any other quips along the same lines in the group and… Mox te videbo!
Discussion of each Hotch (or Potch) will take place in the Facebook Group HERE, where you can meet our fun founding members.
Please join and get involved – you can comment on the latest Hotch Potch article and of course contribute your own favourite linguistic legends. I can’t wait to read you!
Happy Hotching (or Potching)
The Wily Word Weaver 
