Re: [tied] Why are "the teens" special ?

>> a number like twelve, or fifteen, is
>> treated as a single unit. This is why illogical
>> patterns survive.

>Why is it "illogical" to ones before "ten"?

I meant that numbers such as "eleven" and "twelve" are not recognised as
anything but a single blob of meaning by native speakers. Their origin
(e.g. "two left over after ten") is not obvious. It is obvious in
"thir-teen, fif-teen" etc. So there is no logic to the pattern "eleven,
twelve"; and similarly in other languages.

>Is it because we write decimal numerals with the most significant digit on
>the left (and read left to right?)

That is a very late pattern of behaviour, and can't affect PIE, let alone
the attested languages. (Though it may affect our perception of thins!)

Peter