6/22 – "A couple of irritants in spoken language"

22 Jun

The first one has to do with the number 0 (zero).  It’s super common that people when speaking will use the letter O in place of the number 0.  “What’s your phone number?”  It’s five-five-five oh-oh-two-three.  “Oh” is a letter, NOT a number.  Saying the word zero requires 1 more syllable. Don’t be afraid to say it.

Another often misused word is ton.  A ton is a unit of weight equal to 2,000 pounds, NOT a word intended to indicate you have “a lot” of something.

“I have a ton of friends.”  Really?  What’s that like?

Because I have 1,374 pounds of friends.

Tags: , , , , ,

  • http://www.whahappen.com Marissa

    I agree with both points. At my job, we reference file numbers and I hate it when in the same file number, someone says “oh” and then says “zero” later in the sequence.

    Example: two-five-oh, three-zero-one. Damn w-e-i-r-d-zero-s!

    Marissa’s last blog post..In Honor of Those Who Made the Ultimate Sacrifice

  • http://www.wishiwasamessenger.com Bozzz

    That’s not a lot of friends.

    I like the word zero. It needs to be used more often.

    Bozzz’s last blog post..Magic 8-Ball