I haven't seen IB yet, but the whitefont is hilarious. Because I have been teaching my children to show numbers the British way, and then they come back from school and Kindergarten and do them the German way. Perfect spys in the making, what the bilinguialism and all as well .

ETA: also reminds me of a very nice wartime British movie "Went the Day Well?", where a group of Germans inflitrates a perfect little English village and give themselves away by putting a line through their sevens, amongst other things.

megan - according to the movie, Germans do it thumb, index, middle. Whether that has anything to do with reality, I don't know. NOTHING in the rest of the movie has much to do with reality, so there's lots of wiggle room.

The Germans use the thumb, megan.

Whether that has anything to do with reality, I don't know.

No, it's true. I can confirm it!

where a group of Germans inflitrates a perfect little English village and give themselves away by putting a line through their sevens, amongst other things.

And saying things like "Guten morgan, mein damen"?

I get that, but which way do

Megan, thumb, index, middle.

Ah. The French count that way too.

ETA: Of course, they also do the seven thing. I didn't realize Brits don't do that.

And saying things like "Guten Morgen, meine Damen"?

Slightly more subtle than that. Otherwise it would have been a very short film.

I've also heard a story, possibly anecdotal, about how the US Army hired sociologists to root out German spies in the ranks, and they were able to find them by how they used a knife and fork.

ETA: Of course, they also do the seven thing. I didn't realize Brits don't do that.

I do the seven thing, too. So while I'd give myself away if I had to indicate the number three, I'd be fine when writing the number 7.