Re: [math-fun] Counting/counters/N/Z/units, etc.

How recent is the spread of noun classifiers? It seems to violate the general tendency towards grammar simplification. Is there any tendency in modern Chinese (of any flavor) to drop the classifiers? Are noun classifiers a form of type safety for spoken language, or do they sound cool? Why doesn't everyone use some interpretive programming language and give up those tedious and voluminous data type declarations. Imagine saying An-instance-of animal-of-type-feline "cat" existing-of-type-exists "is" relative-to "on" an-instance-of flat-thing-of-type-covering "mat" on the grounds that it avoids errors like letting bears sleep in the living room. Hilarie