This orange costs 10 x 5

I know I'm way behind on posting and I still don't really have anything substantial put together so here's a little trivia until the next time I have internet : )

In Wolof class we touched briefly on the monetary system in Senegal and it's confusing and long and pretty awesome so I thought I'd share. Mostly they use French numbers because Wolof numbers are based on 5. For example:

1 benn
2 ñaar
3 ñett
4 ñeant
5 juróom
6 juróom-benn
7 juróom-ñaar
8 juróom-ñett
9 juróom-ñeant
10 fukk
11 fukk ak benn
etc…

Counting is pretty straightforward, if a little long, but the money is a little more complicated. Because the smallest Senegalese coin is 5 francs (CFA) called a dërëm, a 50 franc coin is called fukk dërëm (10 x 5) or often, just fukk. Ñaar fukk when you’re talking about money is 100 francs. Our Wolof professor, Sidy, explained that to say 975 francs is Teemeer (500) ak juroom-neant fukk (9 x (10 x 5)) ak juroom (5 x 5). Right. This is why they prefer to use French numbers when counting more than 5 of anything.

Alright, that's all I've got. ba beneen yoon (until next time)