[Tfug] OT: A "musing"

[Bexley Hall]

--- George Cohn <gwcohn at simplybits.net> wrote:

> Bexley Hall 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
> 
> For many years I worked in telecom.  I tend to break
> numbers up into 
> groups of 3 and 4.  IE: 829-5555.
> 
> That would be pronounced eight two nine, five five
> five five.
> 
> People tend to not remember more than 3 or 4 numbers
> in a row so it's 
> easier to remember that way.
> 
> Really annoying when I ask someone for a phone
> number and they say eight 
> two nine five five, five five.
> 
> Asterisk has a "say digits" and "say number"
> function that can read the 
> caller-id.
> 
> It's a lot easier to understand when you say the
> digits rather than the 
> number, IE: eight two nine, five five five five
> rather than eight 
> hundred twenty nine, five thousand five hundred
> fifty five.

Yes -- but there is a context known a priori...
doubtful asterisk would ever utter "It is 237
miles to Albuquerque..."; or "The population of
that locality is 3245121".  :>

--don



 
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