this post was submitted on 13 Dec 2024
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Why do you say the letter "O" when you mean the digit "0"? (feddit.org)
submitted 4 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Examples:

  • One oh two Main Street
  • Four oh seven PM
  • Biology one oh one
  • Eight six seven, five three oh nine
  • Four oh four: Not found

Not just a US thing, so I hope this is okay to ask here. I have just never encountered this is any language other than English. Is it simply that O and 0 look similar, and that "oh" has fewer syllables than "zero"? I have not heard a good explanation from coworkers who I've asked.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

It depends; a lot of commercials I hear still say maru or zero compared to rei, but I think that's for rhythmic and mnemonic purposes. I'm not immediately sure of other contexts.