Twenty oh four
Twenty oh four
(OP)
Why do I hear (mostly on NPR) the year expressed as "twenty oh four"? How hard is it to say "two thousand four" or at least "twenty zero four" When did it become acceptable to substitute the letter "O" for the digit "0"? Is this part of innumeracy?
Best regards,
Matthew Ian Loew
"Luck is the residue of design."
Branch Rickey
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.





RE: Twenty oh four
It all makes me think of Ellsworth M. Toohey orchestrating decay in the language in The Fountainhead--and Please lets not start another intermitable thread on the value of Ayn Rand (last time got just too acromonius).
David
RE: Twenty oh four
This one particularly bothers me because I'm a tad hard of hearing and it's sometimes hard for me to distinguish between the "Oh" sound and the "four" sound if someone's not enunciating clearly or it's noisy.
RE: Twenty oh four
rmw
RE: Twenty oh four
The Two-oh-four theme is one such case. Before 2k, no one had any trouble with this. We all used to say nineteenhundredeightyseven. Hard to read, but easy to hear.
But the Spraknamnden felt a need to be needed. So they started to think. Their thinking was something like this: It will be very awkward to pronounce twothousandonehundredeightyseven (2187) sometime in a distant future. Wouldnt it be easier to say twentyonehundredeightyseven instead? Five letters gained! Not bad.
And the Spraknamnden continued to think: "It will be tough for the future Swedes to switch from twothousandninetynine to twentyonehundred - will it not?" Yes, of course. "So, what shall we do about it?" Hmmm...
There was some discussion about this newly found and really important problem and the Spraknamnden solution was just as intelligent as the "problem definition"; We shall start using twentyhundred on January first year two thousand!
And so it is. National radio and TV is now using twentyhundredfour instead of twothousandfour - and most Swedish papers, too. And we Swedes are an obedient flock. Most of us do what the master says. Except some of us. So I have started the MM Academy. The only rule is: Thou shalt not write CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC (Roman for twenty-hundred) instead of MM (Roman for two thousand) and thou shalt say Two Thousand!
RE: Twenty oh four
Just for fun, and you know how TV loves a retrospective, they took a look at what terms where used in 1800 and 1900.
Some nice antiquated phrases were turned over and discussed meaninglessly.
Of course this all came to nought when the year turned over and people called it what they wanted to and finally we seem to have settled down in my part of the world to saying "two thousand and four".
TV, being TV will get it wrong till the end of time. (By the way, does TV count as an initialism or an acronym or both?)
JMW
www.viscoanalyser.com
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RE: Twenty oh four
We came up with the naughties... but it doesn't really flow.
On a second note, what exactly is NPR?
RE: Twenty oh four
NPR is National Public Radio, the public, non-commercial radio network in the US.
RE: Twenty oh four
You forgot to include "taxpayer subsidized" in your description of NPR.
Enjoy,
rmw
RE: Twenty oh four
And another thing about NPR is that they actully do a news report with real reporters on location - infact those reporters generally are in that part of the world even if there isn't a huge disaster going on.
nick
RE: Twenty oh four
As far as what to call the decade, I've heard the "aughties" kicked around. It makes sense when you think of the old-timers saying "Well, back in aught-6, we didn't have your fancy ..."
RE: Twenty oh four
I suspect there is quite a variation todaya between diferrent english speaking countries and even within countries.
JMW
www.viscoanalyser.com
eng-tips, by professional engineers for professional engineers
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.
RE: Twenty oh four
If "twenty-oh-four" is acceptable, why not say "two-oh-twelve" in your example of 2012. It is just as arbitrary and incorrect. My big problem is not with dividing up the 4 digit number into two double digit numbers, it is with the pronunciation of the zero digit as the letter "O". I don't think I am being pedantic here.
Best regards,
Matthew Ian Loew
"Luck is the residue of design."
Branch Rickey
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.
RE: Twenty oh four
Doesn't the term "public" include taxpayer subsidization?
RE: Twenty oh four
Well, yes, it did, but I just wanted to 'hammer' the point home somewhat.
rmw
RE: Twenty oh four
rmw
RE: Twenty oh four
I agree with what both of you said. I was just trying to say that what "we engineers" know to be correct (or more correct) sometimes matters little to the rest of the world. (I feel the same was when people say they want to "pour some cement.")
My point was merely that despite being incorrect, "twenty-fourteen" is more consistent with the way we typically say the dates today. The 2012 reference was a stab at when saying "twenty-twelve" would become easier or more commonplace than saying "two thousand-twelve."
RE: Twenty oh four
The "oh" for "zero" is much more common than just the current years: I frequently hear Highway "five-oh-one" [Hwy 501] on the daily traffic report. And how many people say "zero" when giving phone numbers? Now THAT could be confusing; on my phone, "oh" is the 6!
And I like the "naughties".
jlg
-removed the extra -'s after reading another thread.
RE: Twenty oh four
Maybe NPR is just trying to attract a younger crowd. By eliminating any old sayings (like aught-four, etc.) they can draw more gen X'ers like myself. Twenty-oh-four is just the new wave way of saying things, and its something that old timers just don't get.
ps - That old Edwards dude just HAD to go....he was over 40 years old wasn't he?
Brian ;)