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July 13, 2007
Uneven or odd ~ Life in Holland
In Dutch it's pretty easy to remember. Even is 'even' (ay-fun) and odd is 'oneven' (own-ay-fun).
However, in English uneven means something subtly different, e.g. slightly lopsided, unequal, rugged. For example: her breasts were uneven.
So when I got confused today and started referring over and over to odd numbers as 'uneven' numbers, some Dutch person got brave and decided to question my inaccurate use by saying in front of everyone:
"Hey, I didn't know they were called uneven numbers, I thought it was called odd."
I was so convinced that this use of uneven was correct, that I told everyone in the room:
"No, you can also say uneven which is the same thing as odd."
Coming originally from American, my expertise in this area was not challenged and everyone accepted my observation.
Unconsciously though this started eating away at me until I came home and had the urge to look it up. I guess I was wrong, so please accept my apologies here as is.
(Actually, according to the dictionary, odd is indeed an archaic meaning of uneven, but that's another story for another blog entry)
Posted at 11:23 AM
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