Oct 5, 2026, 10:02 PMStarted watching an anime called Ghost Stories. Opening scene shows a clock with Roman numerals on the face but the 4 is IIII.
Me: is that clock cursed? Is it haunted by a clockmaker who doesn’t know how Roman numerals work?
- Oct 5, 2026, 10:02 PM
Replies
ndotondoto@meow.socialOct 6, 2026, 12:18 AM@Punzie This is apparently an actual thing! I only learned this because my college campus had a clock tower that also had IIII instead of IV!
Elyse M GrassoElyseMGrasso@wandering.shopOct 7, 2026, 2:47 AM@Punzie Subtractive Roman numerals were a late development to save space. The earliest inscriptions used IIII and VIIII, and the long forms continued to be used occasionally when people were being formal.