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From: comm@zeus.bris.ac.uk (M. Murray)
Subject: Re: Brit/Am Eng styles?
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References: <31C6B87B.6D54@beehive.twics.com> <31c7ce1c.2022978@news.nando.net> <Paul.A.Wagner-2106961238020001@pwagner.jpl.nasa.gov> <31caccdd.25400694@news.nando.net>
Date: Sun, 23 Jun 1996 21:58:07 GMT
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D Gary Grady (dgary@nando.net) wrote:
: Paul.A.Wagner@Jpl.Nasa.Gov (Paul A. Wagner) wrote:

: >A silly rule? We make and blindly follow many. In this case, perhaps
: >arbitrary, but a rule with a purpose--to help distinguish among
: >similar-sounding but different quantities, say
: >"One hundred and six one-hundredths dollars" ($100.06),
: >"One hundred six one-hundredths dollars" ($1.06), and
: >"Onw hundred six and one hundredths dollars" ($106.01).

Really? Why this "six one-hundredths" rather than the simpler English six 
hundredths"? And anyway, shouldn't the last example be one one-hundredth?

: Good point about the desirability of standards, but the second example
: is something that would not show up in English, at least not the
: dialects I'm used to. As far as I know, everyone says "and" before a
: fraction. The question is whether they say "and" anywhere else, and
: what misunderstanding might be caused by it.

: Incidentally, when referring to money, the "fifty and 35/100 dollars"
: sort of thing appears only on checks (or cheques); in other contexts
: Americans say "fifty dollars and thirty-five cents." The British
: typically say "fifty pounds thirty-five" but before converting to a
: decimal currency they used to say things like, "fifty, two, and six"
: for 50 pounds, 2 shillings, and 6 pence (12 pence to the shilling, 20
: shillings to the pound) with the currency units themselves not
: actually mentioned.

Oh no they didn't. The case you mention became ambiguous between 50/2/6, 
52/6/0, and 52/0/6 when people stopped saying two and fifty. We used to 
say fifty pounds, two and six, etc., to avoid such ambiguities, though I 
agree we rarely said "shillings" and "pence", unless one was zero, e.g 
"fifty two pounds six shillings" or "fifty two pounds and sixpence" 

--
Martin Murray :: School of Chemistry, Bristol University, BS8 1TS, England
