Temperature Stated As a "Negative"

[Herb Stahlke]

Another Midwesterner.  I didn't begin to hear "negative [number]" for
any use until my oldest got to negative numbers in math, early 1980s.
When I was in school we talked about the "square root of minus one,"
not "negative one."  I suspect that came out the changes in math
education in the 60s and 70s, developed and pioneered at the
University of Illinois.  And then it spread to other domains.

Herb

On Thu, Jan 15, 2009 at 6:43 PM, Kari Castor <castor.kari at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Kari Castor <castor.kari at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Temperature Stated As a "Negative"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Just another midwesterner chiming in that "negative so-many" is common usage
> around these parts.
> Kari
>
>
> On Thu, Jan 15, 2009 at 1:58 PM, M Covarrubias <mcovarru at purdue.edu> wrote:
>
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>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       M Covarrubias <mcovarru at PURDUE.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: Temperature Stated As a "Negative"
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> all of my midwestern life i've switched between three options:
>>
>> minus-#
>> negative-#
>> #-below
>>
>> i think i say 'minus-#' most often. but i guess i haven't counted.
>>
>> michael
>>
>>
>> On Jan 15, 2009, at 2:09 PM, Barbara Need wrote:
>>
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>> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > Poster:       Barbara Need <bhneed at GMAIL.COM>
>> > Subject:      Re: Temperature Stated As a "Negative"
>> >
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >
>> > 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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