[Tfug] OT: A "musing"

[Jeremy D Rogers]

Interesting.. I've actually thought about this before (w00t! I'm a
nerd), though in slightly different terms as I was always confused
about where to write in "AND"s when writing out checks. It reminds me
of the Kevin James stand up routine about phone number rhythm.

For strings of numbers, i.e. credit card, accounts, etc., I think I
generally break numbers into groups of 2:
123 - one twenty three
605 - six oh five (here the 'oh' is necessary to eliminate ambiguity)
1610 - sixteen ten
182937 - eighteen.. twenty nine.. thirty seven (here the slight pauses
set up a rhythm alert the listener of the breaks so there is no
confusion that "thirty seven" is 30-7 = 307)

However, when dealing with numbers that represent quantities (not just
a label), I usually do something more like your second example with
the and's.
5431 - five thousand four hundred and thirty one.
Thinking about it, I think the AND is actually an auditory cue that is
the used almost like punctuation. It lets the listener know that the
end of the number is what follows.
Cheers,
JDR


On 4/2/07, Bexley Hall <bexley401 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> I had to ask (and then answer) myself this question
> recently and was amused at just how difficult it was
> to come up with a reliable answer!  :<
>
> The question is:
>
> What rules do "you" use when "pronouncing" numbers?
>
> For example:
>
> 123 -- one hundred twenty three
> 605 -- six hundred five
> 1610 -- one thousand six hundred ten
>
> Etc.  (I am deliberately neglecting variants like
> "sixteen hundred thirty seven" and other contextual
> factors that may play in how each number is rendered).
>
> But, in practice, I have found that the above "rule"
> (which should be evident on inspection) isn't truly
> universally applied.  And, when it *is*, it leads to
> a reduction in clarity (first pass unaided recognition
> rate).
>
> For example:
>
> 605 -- six hundred AND five
> 1610 -- one thousand six hundred AND ten
> 123 -- one hundred twenty three
>
> implements yet another rule set (a bit less obvious)
> with, arguably, some enhanced listener perception.
>
> The more you think about this, the more you will
> find yourself unsure of how YOU *actually* speak
> them!  :>
>
> --don
>
>
>
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