[cecilpl2]

Japanese is worse. You count "1 thing", "2 thing", "3 thing", except the word for "thing" changes depending on the shape of the thing you are counting.

So thin flat things like paper or shirts are 1 mai, 2 mai, 3 mai, while to count books you say 1 satsu, 2 satsu, 3 satsu.

Long round things like pencils or umbrellas go 1 pon, 2 hon, 3 bon, 4 hon, 5 hon, 6 pon, etc (yeah you read that right).

There are different counter words for different kinds of animals, small things, vehicles, shoes, drinks, people, etc.

https://www.learn-japanese-adventure.com/japanese-numbers-co...

[permo-w]

christ that is horrendous, especially pon hon bon hon hon pon. is there some kind of historical logic behind it?

[sheepdestroyer]

It's for a better sounding liaison depending on the preceding number

[a1369209993]

That's just consonant mutation[0][1], like how english speakers say "a pencil" but "an umbrella"[2]. (Ie, "hon", "pon", and "bon" are all the same word, just pronounced differently due to environment.) The fact that ほ ぼ ぽ (ho bo po) are all the same underlying letter, just with different diacritics, kind of hints at this.

0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consonant_mutation

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendaku

2: Of course, English pretty much only does the conspicous verson of this for that one word, because English.