The use of the word "numbers" is interesting because it creates an interesting parallel between words and years that pass by. The creation of a language is something that cannot ripe at once. And so someone's understanding of language, and therefore life, has to take a long time too. I love how disorienting or ill-fitting the word "numbers" seemed to me because it made me spend time reworking the sentence in my head and making it more memorable. I think it's important for language not to flow too smoothly.