number format and semantic hairsplitting in China

[Tom Zurinskas]

If you should ask "Do you have any favorite numbers?" And I say "yes, 100 and 99."  Duplicitous?  Could it mean 199 or two numbers, 100 and 99.  According to rule, it means two.

If I say he paid 100 and 20 dollars in two separate payments, what would be the total?  Was it two 120 payments or one 100 and one 20?  According to rule, it would be one of 100 and another of 20.  But if one says "one hundred twenty" it's clear.  A simple rule to drop the "and" clarifies all.  Clarity is good.

Are there no people here in this forum that were taught in grammar/elementary/primary/k-8 school how to pronounce numbers?  Did they not cover that and just let it float?



Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
see truespel.com



----------------------------------------
> Date: Mon, 11 May 2009 12:07:43 +0800
> From: strangeguitars at GMAIL.COM
> Subject: Re: number format and semantic hairsplitting in China
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Randy Alexander
> Subject: Re: number format and semantic hairsplitting in China
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Mon, May 11, 2009 at 8:35 AM, Tom Zurinskas wrote:
>
>> Suppose you ask me my two favorite numbers and I said. 100 and 99 and 200
>> and 7. Would you wonder?
>>
>
> No, because there's only one way to parse that.
>
> --
> Randy Alexander
> Jilin City, China
> My Manchu studies blog:
> http://www.bjshengr.com/manchu
>
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