Temperature Stated As a "Negative"

Barbara Need bhneed at GMAIL.COM
Thu Jan 15 19:09:42 UTC 2009


What is correct? Minus? Negative five sounds OK to me--but I've lived
in the Midwest much of my life.

Barbara

Barbara Need

On 15 Jan 2009, at 12:24 PM, Doug Harris wrote:

> I've heard this a couple of times recently, once from someone in
> Nebraska, once from a CNN
> presenter who _may_ have been in or from the midwest:
> A below-zero Fahrenheit temperature reported as, say, _negative 15_.
> I tried to convince my Nebraska friend (who's also lived in Iowa and
> ND) that that terminology
> isn't correct, but she's continued using it.
> Is that phrasing as uncommon as I suspect? Is it specific to a
> certain geography?
> dh

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