does anyone know how the language has changed since the victotian time?

Question

I'm just reading the "Sherlock Holmes stories" by Conan-Doyle and I noticed they count in a different way:they say like six and twenty instead of twenty-six.As I'm german it seems very strange,more like we speak.That's the most obvious,but I think I'd find more differences if I really cared.I read Anne Perry before,but she writes today and only places her stories in that time and is not originally from the 1880ies

Update:

I'd like to know whether there might have been any foreign influence,like commonwealth/empire,colonies,war etc.I studied history for a few years but we obviously concentrated on german history.

Inselstricken · Accepted Answer

I think you're  right - in earlier centuries it WAS common to express numbers this way in English -  do you know the nursery rhyme " sing a song of sixpence" which goes on " four and twenty blackbirds, baked in a pie".  I have never thought about it before - even though I do speak German and it seems quite natural to say sechs und zwanzig for 26! 
Not surprising maybe, since English is a Germanic language -  it would be interesting to see how numbers are expressed in much older texts, say from Beowulf to Chaucer in English, and  if any numbers crop up in  the Nibelungenlied, Walter von der Vogelweide, Hartmann von Aue, etc etc - there's a Doctoral thesis for someone!
Another thing - I noticed that my great-grandfather used capital letters for nouns in his letters, in the late 19th century - that has disappeared from English too.

mark · Answer

Well, I don't know exactly, but we being human , have it written in our jeans, I suppose one could say-write. I'm Californian, but my roots are English/German. it is amazing how language  has capacity of one to dispel all belief or weave deception , but only upon one's attrition to be keen to it. Therefore , I'm honestly lost, surfing the leading edge all day in the city lights. Clearly the clever and clandestine notions of change are what keeps our thoughts across the world afloat, but it warns to be the tidings of the fouling against us as well. Keeping it to the bounds of romance and the elementary, dear Watson, is the splendor and rapture of the conservative life of the liberal arts that delights in the writing as simple sharings of human love, humor, and genuine fun.

I really don't think it can change with change for it is built of change itself.

does anyone know how the language has changed since the victotian time?

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