Re: numeration system

Tristan Mc Leay wrote:
>
> I was under the understanding that Americans didn't generally use 'oh'
> for zero? Mistaken? (Aussies, at least around Melbourne, tend to use
> 'zero' or 'oh', rarely 'naught', which is an archaic or British word,
> or the round player/glyph in naughts-and-crosses. I think a majority
> tends to pronounce 'zero' with the same vowel as 'pretty', but 'oh' is
> by far the most common.)
When reading off telephone numbers or product numbers or such,
USAns almost universally say "oh." Sometimes I think I'm the only
one left in USA who says "zero." (But then I'm a pedant anyway.)

This can make a difference because the letters (except Q and X) are
assigned to the telephone digits in USA (left over from the days when
the first two digits of exchanges had mnemonic value). The letter O
is on the digit 6. My state government has a number to get tax forms.
It's 800-FORM2ME, where one has to enter 6 for the letter O.

Ph. D.