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Marvin A. Posted 19 years ago
Linguistics Studies

The "Oh" debate and whether native speakers can misuse language

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01cite10Eng_teach_in_germany12cite10That does not mean it is correct. English speakers commonly use incorrect terms or grammar. 12br
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10No, we don't. Who do you think sets the rules in the first place? "O" for zero is perfect correct, and is commonly used for phone numbers. When it comes to telephone numbers there is no real possibility of confusion.01blockquote
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10The reason why it is better to use the correct word can be demonstrated here: How do you pronounce/say the following code: OST5067 ? or this: 906-ROA ?12blockquote
10If there are a combination of letters and numbers, we would 01b00never02b00 say "o" for zero. "o" is simply used when reading off telephone numbers or mathematical numbers ("O" is almost never used as a variable in English).0-
  

Top answer

0 English speakers DO commonly use incorrect terms or grammar, whether it be verb tenses or whatever. 02br 02br 00It doesn't bother me if many or most people say 'Oh' instead of 'zero' in phone numbers. I do too sometimes, depending on who I am speaking with.

— Eng_teach_in_germany

  • 0 English speakers DO commonly use incorrect terms or grammar, whether it be verb tenses or whatever.
  • 02br 02br 00It doesn't bother me if many or most people say 'Oh' instead of 'zero' in phone numbers.
  • I do too sometimes, depending on who I am speaking with.
  • I went to a school in Australia that taught a high standard of British English, and tended to teach what is more 'correct' - in other words, what is technically correct.
  • 0 is not the letter O.
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9 Answers
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0 English speakers DO commonly use incorrect terms or grammar, whether it be verb tenses or whatever. 02br
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00It doesn't bother me if many or most people say 'Oh' instead of 'zero' in phone numbers. I do too sometimes, depending on who I am speaking with. I went to a school in Australia that taught a high standard of British English, and tended to teach what is more 'corr
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0Well, this didn't work like I thought it would. This seemed a better place to carry on the debate, since it has moved away from any actual pronunciation issue. But apparently I did this incorrectly, so I'm going to copy over the dialogue so far:01blockquote
01cite10Marvin A.12cite11blockquote
11cite20Eng_teach_in_germany22c
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0Oh.02br
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00MrP0-
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0Yeah, sorry about the way it came over.* But the debate is captured in order and in its entirety, so folks can continue to express their thoughts on the subject. But once it moved on to "whether native speakers can linguistically be said to make mistakes" and pretty far away from "Oh," it seemed a better place for it. 02br
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00* I'll practice this with a test thread so I
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0 ok.. I would just like to clarify something - I do in fact make my students aware that zero is commonly pronounced as the letter 'O'. I teach to German people, most of whom are already aware of this due to years of English courses in school, etc..02br
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00In German, the word for 'zero' is 'Null' and it's always used for phone numbers. SO, 'Null'='zero'. That is the unami
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0 In case the link in the post above didn't appear properly, here it is again:02br
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05002br
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00Cheers. 0230hrefhttp://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext04/hwswc10h.htm
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01cite10Marvin A.12cite10There is simply no linguistic basis to hold that any native speakers of any language can make mistakes or misuse their language12blockquote
10I wouldn't go that far. Language is in part socially constructed. It is possible to make mistakes, or if you like, to produce utterances that violate li
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01cite10Grammar Geek12cite10Yeah, sorry about the way it came over.12br
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10Sorry, it was a metathreadistic "Oh!" on my part, not a comment on the "spliting" (as we've learned to call it).02br
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00MrP0-
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0 Strictly speaking "zero" is correct, since zero means zero. O is a letter of the alphabet. But language is meant to be understood. Does it matter whether an appliance to lift you from one floor to the next is called a lift or an elevator? It only matters if the person you are speaking to does not understand. One quickly learns alternative words for the same thing. Over the telephone I would
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