The Magic of the Number Eleven!

Eleven derives from the Old English ęndleofon, first attested in Bede’s late 9th-century “Ecclesiastical History of the English People”. It has cognates in every Germanic language (for example, German elf).

11 is a prime number. It is the smallest two-digit prime number in the decimal base.

If a number is divisible by 11, reversing its digits will result in another multiple of 11. As long as no two adjacent digits of a number added together exceed 9, then multiplying the number by 11, reversing the digits of the product, and dividing that new number by 11, will yield a number that is the reverse of the original number. (For example: 142,312 × 11 = 1,565,432 → 2,345,651 ÷ 11 = 213,241.)

“Legs Eleven” in Bingo is the traditional call for the number eleven, and yesterday was the 11^th ABS “Heurigen” evening. Thus I believe I have exhausted what I can tell you about the number eleven.

The 14^th July 2011 saw the inauguration of this by now traditional Heurigen Evening with marked similarities and differences.

Yesterday evening, just as it was ten short years ago, the event proved to be extremely popular with our members who flocked to the “Buschenschank Wolff”. The chronicler of 2011 mentioned torrential rain that forced the party into the guest room. Ten years later, cold wind and drizzly conditions moved us equally inside.

Where the First and the Eleventh ABS “Heurigen” Evening, however, differed was the location. In 2011 we were at the Zeiler am Hauerweg, every year after that at the Buschenschank Wolff, a long-standing corporate member of the ABS. And another big difference since 2011 is that what began as a joint ABS-ABC venture evolved into a sole Austro-British Society gathering. The Austro British Chamber had fallen by the wayside a long time ago.

It was, as always, a most pleasant evening with good food and excellent wine. It is true: “It’s nice to meet old friends and make new acquaintances alike”! I look forward to Edition number Twelve next year!

Wolfgang Geissler