I was on the ferry to France with a few friends, doing a beer run when I was about 18. This small French lad came to sit on our table, so being a bit of a show off I spoke to him in French - he seemed to quite like us so showed how he could write the numbers 1 to 20. He was a bit thick and kept getting the numbers in the wrong order and some back to front. Obviously, I corrected him.
A girl I was with: Yeah, he got some wrong, but he's really clever.
Me: Eh? He's six and can't write 1-20, that's not particularly clever.
Girl: I bet you couldn't count to twenty in French when you were six.
Me: No, but I could write 1-20.
Girl: Well, he's doing it in English.
Me: He's doing it numerically.
Girl: Yeah, English numbers.
Me: All European countries use those numbers.
Girl: Hehe ... what, really?
Me: Yeah

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