Date:  Tue, 28 Nov 1995 14:03:05 -0700

From:  Bruce Gelder <bgelder[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CAMEL.SIM.ES.COM>

Subject: Re: Zero or "o"?



It just occurred to me that, in many situations at least, "zero" and "oh"

alternate predictably with each other, depending on the position within a

set of numbers. "Zero" occurs in initial position (e.g. "zero-one-one"), and

"oh" occurs medially and in coda position (e.g. "one-oh-one" or "one-one-oh"

[unless the grouping changes and the number becomes "one-ten," which might

make for another interesting discussion]). Perhaps the zip-code citation

earlier, where the person used zeros instead of ohs, is an example of

a new phrasing rule that causes each of the zeros occurring initially instead

of medially (i.e. there are five ungrouped units now instead of the former

one, which contained five grouped numbers).



Just a thought.



Bruce

(bgelder[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]es.com)