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Subject:Re: Spelling out numbers above ten From:Sandra Charker <schark -at- MSP -dot- MASTERPACK -dot- COM -dot- AU> Date:Thu, 27 Mar 1997 11:25:25 +1000
>101 -- One-hundred one
>
>101.65 -- One-hundred one and sixty-five one-hundredths
>
>Some people make the mistake of putting "and" in the wrong place. It
>properly belongs only where a decimal point would be.
>
Whoooppeeeeee!! An invitation to trumpet US vs Rest-of-the-World toon AND
the day before a 4-day weekend.
I don't remember ever seeing 'one-hundred' hyphenated before. Having said
that, I don't see anything illogical or wrong about putting the hyphen in.
My current favourite style guide says to use hyphens in compound numbers,
and I can see that it makes sense to consider 'one hundred' to be a compound
number like 'forty-nine'. It also makes sense to consider it as an adjective
and a noun, like 'one list', and I presume this is the justification for the
convention I'm used to.
Question: does this rule also apply to thousands, millions, billions,
squillions, and gazillions?
I know that Australians and Brits say 'one-hundred and one'; I'd be
interested in comments from other parts of the world. 'One-hundred one' is a
clearer marker of a U.S. speaker to me than the accent. I now know to ask
about whether to include it when I'm writing to American conventions (thank
you Virginia). I suppose U.S. writers who get confused about it can claim
they are writing for an international audience.
Moral: Avoid spelling out numbers <g>
Happy Easter everyone.
Sandra Charker
---------------------------------------------
Sandra Charker,
Masterpack International (McNamee Sutton & Partners)
email: schark -at- masterpack -dot- com -dot- au
PH: +61 2 9937 1427 FAX: +61 2 9937 1388
Level 2, 18-20 Orion Road, LANE COVE NSW 2066, AUSTRALIA
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