4 ms·

Can we start using a comma as a thousands separator instead of a period?

by nubinetwork 5mo ago

usrnm 5mo ago
In most (all?) European countries comma is the decimal separator
- usui 5mo ago
  I skimmed https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_separator https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_separator but still don't understand. Why does this difference exist? Also, why did the conflict eventually settle into something between full stops and commas? What stopped other symbols from continued usage like bars or underscores? It seems weird that a system would eventually settle on just full stops and commas, yet not settle on where to put them. If your system is going to converge strongly on two symbols, finish the job!
  - chmod775 5mo ago
    Because in English you say "three dot two", whereas in German it is "Drei-Komma-Zwei". It just reflects the spoken language. And having the unused symbol then be the thousand separator is natural.
    - usui 5mo ago
      Interesting, I did not know this, but a little bit doubtful. Wouldn't it be the other way around? Explicit spoken language coming from being written that way.
      - chmod775 5mo ago
        Maybe at some point originally, but now you can't change it. Spoken language resists attempts to shape it by committee, and written language has to begrudgingly follow its lead.
  - duckmysick 5mo ago
    > Why does this difference exist? Same reason why there are different date formats, weeks start on Sundays/Mondays (or Saturdays), long/short scale numbers, drives on left/right, different wall sockets and plugs, different train gauges, and of course metric/imperial. It's a mix of tradition, conventions, inertia.
- veltas 5mo ago
  Not in e.g. UK.
  - reddalo 5mo ago
    The UK is sadly not in the European Union and it wasn't included in this study.
    - veltas 5mo ago
      Just responding to comment about European countries using decimal separator.
lofaszvanitt 5mo ago
Oh no way. First, replace fahrenheit to celsius, then miles to kms and we are all set to a nice, unified future.
- nubinetwork 5mo ago
  No complaints there, I don't get why the UK uses miles and Celsius...
- tactlesscamel 5mo ago
  I much prefer a 60mi commute to a 96km commute. It is less depressing.
  - lofaszvanitt 5mo ago
    So you live in a constant mirage, a delusional reality? :)
    - tactlesscamel 5mo ago
      Thought I'd get settled in before the mandate ;] "AI is making the world better by enabling business to circumvent the leading loss of profit." "The economy is making a comeback: A new gas station has helped rejuvinate the job market by offering $15/hr jobs to replace those 70k/year careers." "Thanks to Flock and human behavior patterns, we can arrest criminals in near real-time." (Okay, this one isn't a thing, yet.)
reddalo 5mo ago
Period is the thousands separator and comma is the decimal separator in almost all European countries.
- Stitch4223 5mo ago
  We checked this before going live and came to the same conclusion. We also discovered that the official languages of the EU are all 24 languages, but we chose to write the post in English and not AI-translate it.
gschizas 5mo ago
Oh, sweet summer child... https://www.unicode.org/cldr/charts/48/by_type/index.html https://www.unicode.org/cldr/charts/48/by_type/index.html
goodpoint 5mo ago
No.

Can we start using a comma as a thousands separator instead of a period?

usrnm 5mo ago

In most (all?) European countries comma is the decimal separator

usui 5mo ago
I skimmed https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_separator https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_separator but still don't understand. Why does this difference exist? Also, why did the conflict eventually settle into something between full stops and commas? What stopped other symbols from continued usage like bars or underscores? It seems weird that a system would eventually settle on just full stops and commas, yet not settle on where to put them. If your system is going to converge strongly on two symbols, finish the job!
- chmod775 5mo ago
  Because in English you say "three dot two", whereas in German it is "Drei-Komma-Zwei". It just reflects the spoken language. And having the unused symbol then be the thousand separator is natural.
  - usui 5mo ago
    Interesting, I did not know this, but a little bit doubtful. Wouldn't it be the other way around? Explicit spoken language coming from being written that way.
    - chmod775 5mo ago
      Maybe at some point originally, but now you can't change it. Spoken language resists attempts to shape it by committee, and written language has to begrudgingly follow its lead.
- duckmysick 5mo ago
  > Why does this difference exist? Same reason why there are different date formats, weeks start on Sundays/Mondays (or Saturdays), long/short scale numbers, drives on left/right, different wall sockets and plugs, different train gauges, and of course metric/imperial. It's a mix of tradition, conventions, inertia.
veltas 5mo ago
Not in e.g. UK.
- reddalo 5mo ago
  The UK is sadly not in the European Union and it wasn't included in this study.
  - veltas 5mo ago
    Just responding to comment about European countries using decimal separator.

lofaszvanitt 5mo ago

Oh no way. First, replace fahrenheit to celsius, then miles to kms and we are all set to a nice, unified future.

nubinetwork 5mo ago
No complaints there, I don't get why the UK uses miles and Celsius...
tactlesscamel 5mo ago
I much prefer a 60mi commute to a 96km commute. It is less depressing.
- lofaszvanitt 5mo ago
  So you live in a constant mirage, a delusional reality? :)
  - tactlesscamel 5mo ago
    Thought I'd get settled in before the mandate ;] "AI is making the world better by enabling business to circumvent the leading loss of profit." "The economy is making a comeback: A new gas station has helped rejuvinate the job market by offering $15/hr jobs to replace those 70k/year careers." "Thanks to Flock and human behavior patterns, we can arrest criminals in near real-time." (Okay, this one isn't a thing, yet.)

reddalo 5mo ago

Period is the thousands separator and comma is the decimal separator in almost all European countries.

Stitch4223 5mo ago
We checked this before going live and came to the same conclusion. We also discovered that the official languages of the EU are all 24 languages, but we chose to write the post in English and not AI-translate it.

gschizas 5mo ago

Oh, sweet summer child... https://www.unicode.org/cldr/charts/48/by_type/index.html https://www.unicode.org/cldr/charts/48/by_type/index.html

goodpoint 5mo ago

No.