5 ms·

This is a pet peeve of mine. If you aren't performing mathematical operations with it, it's not a number, even if it has digits in it. ID numbers, social securi

by imgabe 5y ago

This is a pet peeve of mine. If you aren't performing mathematical operations with it, it's not a number, even if it has digits in it. ID numbers, social security numbers, phone numbers, credit card numbers, etc these are text identifiers that happen to use numerals. They're not numbers.

pbhjpbhj 5y ago
Yes! Always annoys me that Google Maps navigation reads the codes for roads as if they were numbers. In the UK I only ever here, for example, A2179 spoken as "ay twenty-one seventy-nine. GMaps reads it as "ay two thousand one hundred and seventy nine". That extra time taken and slight extra mental processing when you're driving, it exacerbates it beyond annoyance. (There are exceptions, of course, A6000 would be read as "ay six thousand"). Presumably this is USA-ism noone bothered to fix.
- tallanvor 5y ago
  No, not a USA-ism, we'd likely pronounce it the same way, although I can't think of any highway numbers that are that high. An example would be I-440 in North Carolina, it gets pronounced "eye four forty", or I-195 would be "eye one ninty-five".
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - bena 5y ago
    The interstate system is a bit of an oddity numbering wise as well. "Four forty" is a better way to say it than "Four hundred forty" because the hundreds place is used to denote branches off the main interstate. I440 should attach to I40 in at least two places based on its number. And checking it on a map, it does look like I440 is a beltway through Raleigh. Also, I can see an I540, which means a spur off of I40 that. And you can see that I540 connects to I40 in one spot and deposits you near I87.
- Symbiote 5y ago
  I would pronounce that "ay two one seven nine". A505 would be "ay five oh five" but A610 would be "ay six ten". But I wonder if that's because I'm from a part of England where the first digit is large (>4). I can see A1066 is more likely to be "ay ten sixty-six".
  - pbhjpbhj 5y ago
    Your pronunciation seems better, in retrospect.
- reaperducer 5y ago
  Similar to when I ask Siri to play the radio station WINS/New York, which has a frequency of 1010 AM, and is known as "Ten ten wins." Siri: "Now playing one thousand and ten wins." Or even worse, when I ask her to play the radio station 2GB in Sydney, known as "two gee bee, eight seven three." Siri: "Now playing two gigabytes eight hundred and seventy three."
  - aqfamnzc 5y ago
    I've had google maps navigation read a road used by two routes such as "US-91/89" like a fraction, "Exit onto US ninety-one eighty-ninths."
    - hunter2_ 5y ago
      Not number related, but this reminds me how I've had it erroneously pronounce a street name containing "Vly" (an uncommon word [0], but not an abbreviation, a whole word) as "valley". Since other street names use the former as an abbreviation for the latter, I guess it's part of a standard lookup (like how "mt" and "mtn" expand to be pronounced "mount" and "mountain") without means for an exception. [0] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vly https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vly
- fargle 5y ago
  sure not a usa-ism, but just bad software. We'd probably say the A6 or the A6thou or something short. or the 21-79. whatever's shortest and not a mouthful. true 'mericans don't even know how to pronounce-out numbers that bigly here in california there is this delightful local custom to give the freeway some random place name that changes every two miles, but give all the signs a number. or vice versa. so it sounds like: "turn north on the rancho-el-coronado-pacifico-jackson expressway" which means turn "physically east on the 610" because it's actually north-south, but run's east-west "logically". then for extra fun, add state highway numbers that overlap the us freeway numbers and use lots of proper nouns. as in "a crash occurred at the interchange of the northbound 415 and the 188 at the south 67 jason plotz memorial parkway on the escobar-de-los-muertos exit headed eastbound". i don't even know what i just said, but at least twenty commuters reading this just rerouted to avoid this mess.
Asraelite 5y ago
Some languages distinguish between these two types of numbers, like French "numéro" vs. "nombre". I don't know what a suitable English term would be, maybe "digit sequence" vs. "number"?
- shakna 5y ago
  Numeral vs number. Numerals are symbolic representations using digits, but may or may not have numeric properties.

by imgabe 5y ago

pbhjpbhj 5y ago

Yes! Always annoys me that Google Maps navigation reads the codes for roads as if they were numbers. In the UK I only ever here, for example, A2179 spoken as "ay twenty-one seventy-nine. GMaps reads it as "ay two thousand one hundred and seventy nine". That extra time taken and slight extra mental processing when you're driving, it exacerbates it beyond annoyance. (There are exceptions, of course, A6000 would be read as "ay six thousand"). Presumably this is USA-ism noone bothered to fix.

tallanvor 5y ago
No, not a USA-ism, we'd likely pronounce it the same way, although I can't think of any highway numbers that are that high. An example would be I-440 in North Carolina, it gets pronounced "eye four forty", or I-195 would be "eye one ninty-five".
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- bena 5y ago
  The interstate system is a bit of an oddity numbering wise as well. "Four forty" is a better way to say it than "Four hundred forty" because the hundreds place is used to denote branches off the main interstate. I440 should attach to I40 in at least two places based on its number. And checking it on a map, it does look like I440 is a beltway through Raleigh. Also, I can see an I540, which means a spur off of I40 that. And you can see that I540 connects to I40 in one spot and deposits you near I87.
Symbiote 5y ago
I would pronounce that "ay two one seven nine". A505 would be "ay five oh five" but A610 would be "ay six ten". But I wonder if that's because I'm from a part of England where the first digit is large (>4). I can see A1066 is more likely to be "ay ten sixty-six".
- pbhjpbhj 5y ago
  Your pronunciation seems better, in retrospect.
reaperducer 5y ago
Similar to when I ask Siri to play the radio station WINS/New York, which has a frequency of 1010 AM, and is known as "Ten ten wins." Siri: "Now playing one thousand and ten wins." Or even worse, when I ask her to play the radio station 2GB in Sydney, known as "two gee bee, eight seven three." Siri: "Now playing two gigabytes eight hundred and seventy three."
- aqfamnzc 5y ago
  I've had google maps navigation read a road used by two routes such as "US-91/89" like a fraction, "Exit onto US ninety-one eighty-ninths."
  - hunter2_ 5y ago
    Not number related, but this reminds me how I've had it erroneously pronounce a street name containing "Vly" (an uncommon word [0], but not an abbreviation, a whole word) as "valley". Since other street names use the former as an abbreviation for the latter, I guess it's part of a standard lookup (like how "mt" and "mtn" expand to be pronounced "mount" and "mountain") without means for an exception. [0] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vly https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vly
fargle 5y ago
sure not a usa-ism, but just bad software. We'd probably say the A6 or the A6thou or something short. or the 21-79. whatever's shortest and not a mouthful. true 'mericans don't even know how to pronounce-out numbers that bigly here in california there is this delightful local custom to give the freeway some random place name that changes every two miles, but give all the signs a number. or vice versa. so it sounds like: "turn north on the rancho-el-coronado-pacifico-jackson expressway" which means turn "physically east on the 610" because it's actually north-south, but run's east-west "logically". then for extra fun, add state highway numbers that overlap the us freeway numbers and use lots of proper nouns. as in "a crash occurred at the interchange of the northbound 415 and the 188 at the south 67 jason plotz memorial parkway on the escobar-de-los-muertos exit headed eastbound". i don't even know what i just said, but at least twenty commuters reading this just rerouted to avoid this mess.

Asraelite 5y ago

Some languages distinguish between these two types of numbers, like French "numéro" vs. "nombre". I don't know what a suitable English term would be, maybe "digit sequence" vs. "number"?

shakna 5y ago
Numeral vs number. Numerals are symbolic representations using digits, but may or may not have numeric properties.