Oneteen

When he doesn’t need to fill his homework sheets, the older one loves writing. Couple of days back, he decided he wanted to write numbers – one, two, three - he began.
..., ten, oneteen, twoteen, thirteen...
I wanted to correct him. But something held me back.
Eleven is just an abbreviation for ‘one over ten’, and not even one that makes linguistic sense. Much more sensible, and descriptive, is my son’s oneteen which leaves no room for ambiguity.

Someday, I know, I have to get him to change, but for now I’ll let him do what he knows is sensible.