"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode! - Page 146 - Other Topics Forum - Discuss Pop Culture, Arts and Entertainment

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Page 146 of 247

First

46 96 126 136 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 156 166 196 246

Last

07-04-2012 , 05:22 PM

#3626

NewOldGuy

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 5,935

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kvitlekh

Does it irk anyone else when, reciting a phone number, people say "oh" (a letter) instead of "zero" (a number)?

No. Just you.

What's James Bond's number?

Sometimes the sound pronounced "oh" is actually an abbreviation for zero. Context rules and the meaning is virtually always clear.

Obviously they are two different typed characters. In handwriting, if the context would allow either a letter or number then you must put a slash through the character to indicate the numeral.

Last edited by NewOldGuy; 07-04-2012 at 05:29 PM.

Quote

07-05-2012 , 12:52 AM

#3627

sba9630

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 4,510

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kvitlekh

Does it irk anyone else when, reciting a phone number, people say "oh" (a letter) instead of "zero" (a number)?

Slightly, but I'm used to it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikech

pretty sure no one fluent in english actually thinks "oh" is a number; it's just easier/faster to say. since it does irk you, do you say "nineteen-hundred and seven" when referring to the year 1907?

"Nineteen aught seven."

Quote

07-05-2012 , 08:31 AM

#3628

Kvitlekh

adept

Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 882

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikech

pretty sure no one fluent in english actually thinks "oh" is a number; it's just easier/faster to say. since it does irk you, do you say "nineteen-hundred and seven" when referring to the year 1907?

No I don't, but I'm not listing the individual numbers 1 9 0 7, I'm sounding out the year as one unit. With phone numbers also I find it acceptable to group numbers together, as in 012 (zero one two) 2030 (twenty thirty) but when voicing the individual numbers I would never say O instead of zero.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NewOldGuy

In every James Bond movie I've watched, 007 opens (and sometimes closes) with some ridiculous physics-defying, death-defying stunt. Yet he still doesn't have the power to make O a number.

Quote

07-05-2012 , 09:29 AM

#3629

GMan42

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 5,329

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kvitlekh

When it comes to spoken communication there's a lot to be said for shaving a syllable off of a common word (not that "zero" is common for everyone, but some jobs involve rattling off numbers all day). No big deal for one's personal preference be to say the whole word, but to be annoyed at those who don't seems exceptionally silly.

Do you avoid contractions when speaking also?

Quote

07-05-2012 , 11:27 AM

#3630

Kvitlekh

adept

Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 882

Quote:

Originally Posted by GMan42

No, I have no problems with contractions. But I also don't substitute shortcuts for whole words simply for brevity. Maybe we should limit our vocabulary to words of, say, 5 letters? Who needs polysyllabic words? They're way too long and too difficult to pronounce!

(I really thought the 0 vs. O issue would be a pet peeve of people in a grammar forum. Based on the resistance I'm receiving, I must be wrong.)

Quote

07-05-2012 , 03:33 PM

#3631

GMan42

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 5,329

I think it has to do with the usefulness of the abbreviation. When someone says they're "going on vacay," I think it's ******ed and cringeworthy, since how often do you use that word? Shortening "zero" saves you a lot of syllables over a lifetime.

Quote

07-05-2012 , 06:22 PM

#3632

mikech

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 3,799

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kvitlekh

No I don't, but I'm not listing the individual numbers 1 9 0 7, I'm sounding out the year as one unit.

i'm unsure what this means. which would you say: "nineteen-oh-seven," "nineteen-hundred-and-seven," "nineteen-zero-seven," or, as an above poster suggested, "nineteen-aught-seven"?

Quote:

In every James Bond movie I've watched, 007 opens (and sometimes closes) with some ridiculous physics-defying, death-defying stunt. Yet he still doesn't have the power to make O a number.

you haven't answered his question. how would you vocalize james bond's code name: zero-zero-seven? double-zero-seven?

Quote

07-05-2012 , 07:30 PM

#3633

ToTheInternet

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 13,876

It depends on what one's used to hearing in the given context. (I'll just hyphenate all numbers.)

Phone numbers: "seven-zero-five" or "seven-oh-five" (both sound okay to me)

Police and Military: "five-oh went loco on Tony Romo in SoHo—let's watch the footage in slow-mo" or "meet me at oh-eight-hundred and drop down and cook me twenty pancakes"

Years: "nineteen-oh-seven"

James Bond: "double-oh-seven"

Nearly all other numbers: "the sequence is five-six-zero-zero-zero-two-zero-zero-zero" / "the combination is zero-zero-seven" / "Maury, I counted—he cheated on me nineteen-hunnernen-seven times"

Reasons for choosing oh over zero clearly existed, but many of those reasons are probably vestigial now.

Last edited by ToTheInternet; 07-05-2012 at 07:45 PM.

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07-05-2012 , 08:25 PM

#3634

Kvitlekh

adept

Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 882

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikech

i'm unsure what this means. which would you say: "nineteen-oh-seven," "nineteen-hundred-and-seven," "nineteen-zero-seven," or, as an above poster suggested, "nineteen-aught-seven"?

you haven't answered his question. how would you vocalize james bond's code name: zero-zero-seven? double-zero-seven?

"Nineteen-oh-Seven". Here 1907 is one unit (I wouldn't call it a 'word'), but if sounding out the individual digits then definitely "one nine zero seven".

"Double Oh seven", but that is a name, and you can call someone whatever name you like, but it doesn't prove that O is a number.

Quote

07-05-2012 , 08:35 PM

#3635

NewOldGuy

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 5,935

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kvitlekh

"Double Oh seven", but that is a name, and you can call someone whatever name you like, but it doesn't prove that O is a number.

LOL, you are grasping at straws. It's his secret agent number, 007 and it does not contain an "O" at all, it contains two "0"s. The homonym pronounced "oh" is still a 0.

The 00 (pronounced "double oh") designation means a license to kill in the fictional world Bond inhabits, and the third digit is his identifier.

The only time it's not appropriate to use the shortened "oh" form for speaking zero is when reciting an abstract numeric sequence or an alphanumeric sequence, because of ambiguity. That's undoubtedly the one that originally annoyed you and it's wrong, but in all other contexts I can think of the meaning is always clear.

TTI has a good post above.

Last edited by NewOldGuy; 07-05-2012 at 08:43 PM.

Quote

07-05-2012 , 09:28 PM

#3636

Kvitlekh

adept

Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 882

Quote:

Originally Posted by NewOldGuy

Your post is worthy of a LOL. I know 007 is considered a number in the fictional Bond series, I thought it was obvious that I know it. My point is, the Bond reference is useless as any kind of proof; calling him 007 doesn't make O a number just like the ridiculously unrealistic stunts he performs in each movie are not indicative of real physics.

Bottom line is, using O in place of zero irks me, and I thought it would irk the grammar nits here, too. Supplying all the proof in the world of how O is used as a number just demonstrates how widespread the misuse of O is, only shows how bad the problem is, and doesn't serve to justify it.

Quote

07-05-2012 , 09:35 PM

#3637

mikech

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 3,799

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kvitlekh

Bottom line is, using O in place of zero irks me

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kvitlekh

"Nineteen-oh-Seven".

Quote

07-05-2012 , 09:39 PM

#3638

powder_8s

temp-banned

Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 3,782

Do you use Zed or Zee? Here in Canada its 98% Zed. When I here Zee it sounds very American.

Quote

07-05-2012 , 09:43 PM

#3639

ToTheInternet

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 13,876

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kvitlekh

Not sure what's l0lworthy about it. Also, check this page out.

Quote

07-05-2012 , 09:51 PM

#3640

||.||.||

Gifmeister

Join Date: Nov 2011 Posts: 14,058

Quote:

Originally Posted by ToTheInternet

l0lworthy

Quote

07-05-2012 , 09:53 PM

#3641

NewOldGuy

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 5,935

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kvitlekh

Bottom line is, using O in place of zero

Your continued mistake is in thinking that anyone is doing that. They aren't. Nobody is saying (or writing) the letter "O" when they mean zero. They are saying the sound at the end of the word "zero" as a spoken abbreviation, and what they are saying can be written as "0" but it should never be written as "O". You are the one making a mistake every time you write it that way.

Quote:

Supplying all the proof in the world of how O is used as a number

No one except you has claimed any such thing in this thread. The letter "O" is never used as a number.

But carry on as you wish, I won't be responding to you again.

Last edited by NewOldGuy; 07-05-2012 at 10:02 PM.

Quote

07-06-2012 , 12:00 PM

#3642

private joker

Most Definitely

Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 25,244

This oh-zero discussion is the worst thing ever to happen to this thread. Someone ask something about punctuation so we can climb out of the abyss.

Quote

07-06-2012 , 12:43 PM

#3643

LKJ

Smugly Contemptuous

Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 93,732

Quote:

Originally Posted by private joker

This oh-zero discussion is the worst thing ever to happen to this thread. Someone ask something about punctuation so we can climb out of the abyss.

Wouldn't it be better to say "worst thing to ever"...?

Quote

07-06-2012 , 01:23 PM

#3644

Clare Quilty

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 6,710

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kvitlekh

It doesn't irk the grammar nits here because it's not a grammar issue. It's a personal negative reaction to a widely accepted (and acceptable) usage. I have plenty of those myself, but I don't ascribe my annoyance to the rest of the world being wrong.

Quote

07-06-2012 , 02:11 PM

#3645

Ron Poor

veteran

Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 2,296

Apologies for prolonging the argument, but.. .

I say zero because when I saw oh it can sound like four. Though if you're saying zero you might as well say zilch, zip or nada.

Quote

07-06-2012 , 04:17 PM

#3646

RussellinToronto

veteran

Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 2,243

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ron Poor

when I say oh it can sound like four.

Oh. You grew up, I take it, in Alabama, Georgia, or Mississippi?

As in, "Fo mo yeahs, you heah!"

Quote

07-06-2012 , 04:25 PM

#3647

MrEleganza

old hand

Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 1,861

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ron Poor

Apologies for prolonging the argument, but.. .

I say zero because when I saw oh it can sound like four. Though if you're saying zero you might as well say zilch, zip or nada.

That's what I do. I say my zipcode is seven-zilch-nada-zip-five.