Mr. Beat explains why English speakers often say “o” instead of “zero.”
Produced by Matt Beat, who, as it turns out, is Mr. Beat.
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#worldhistory #linguistics #history
Why do we say “O” instead of zero for numbers?
No one knows exactly when this started, but it likely goes back to the Middle Ages. During this time, people used the Latin alphabet to write numbers, and eventually they used the letter “o” to represent zero. It’s also worth noting that the English language didn’t even have a word for zero until much later than other parts of the world. When English speakers DID have a word for it, they often said “naught,” which basically means “nothing.”
I mean it means something, which is nothing. Clear as mud?
Anyway, later on, English speakers said “o” instead of zero because it looks so similar to zero, especially after telephones and typewriters became common household items. And let’s just face it, in the modern age, “o” is just a bit easier to say than “zero.” We’re lazy bums.
source
Guys I know he’s not from forsaken but my ears instantly gave my Brian a picture of 007n7
My child says 0 instead of O
0 is a number & O is a letter
I call him zero zero 7
While In the Army, it was instilled into us that O is not a number, they had to actually provide a block of instruction for pronouncing the correct time, like 0530 to be said as zero five thirty, not O five thirty like it's Irish.☘️
Hell0
İ am 1915
Is it to do with when words started getting shortenings to make it easier to speak them? Like "zer-oh" becomes "oh"?
I almost always say zero within a phone number rather than "o"
Ooh seven
Typewriters specifically took advantage of this to save on making more keys.
Listen….this is the numbest thing I ever heard. When I was a kid in the 70’s and 80’s, if anyone ever to make a call but we needed help, we always dialed O for the operator!
O = Operator
The rotary dial always started with the number 1 and ended with the number 9 and after nine was the letter O for the operator.
It’s not because we are lazy.
Even when everyone switched their phones over to the phones with buttons, it started with the numbers first the number 1. Why doesn’t it start with zero because there is no zero.
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
* O #
Btw, the last symbol is the pound sign and not hashtag.
I don’t need to look it up and proved it to you. I grew up in the 70’s and I know what we would tell each other to call the Operator by dialing the O and not 0 (zero). Everyone knew that O stood for the Operator. If they are still alive, ask your grandparents or great grandparents. I’m sure they can tell you instead of saying, “Nobody knows!”
Oh, btw, the operator would answer the line like this, “Operator, how may I direct your call?”
In cop code, Z may be pronounced "Zero" while 0 may be pronounced "O". I've heard it before LOL.
If M calls him double o 7, then so will I.
That form inland 🇮🇳
Really
nowadays it's lazy, brain-dead bums
nil nil seven
The real reason is there wasn't any thing as 'zero' '0' until Aryabhatta invented it
I guess it is an indication of inteligence. I tend not to purchase anything from a site that does not know the difference for the simple reason that they tend to choose to know the difference when sending the bill out. Simple as that.
I hath knew naught of it kind sir till thou explaineth about the letter O
–01–0+
In my language (Romanian) we don't pronounce the "zero" when we refer to years.
For example, 1905 it is pronounced one thousand and five.
But then again, we ony call zero O when we use it as a digit, not a whole number. When zero is being used as a digit, it means far from nothing
MY GRANDPARENTS ( Born in 1902 and 1909)….never used ' o' while speaking of their birthdates….ALWAYS said" I was born in 19- 2…and 19-9.Just used….three Numbers .They were teaching me….without realizing it!😂
I almost always say Zero instead of O, so I guess I'm with you on calling him Zero Zero Seven.
Foreigners always jealous of Indian we know it very well..
Its because of Aryabhatta (Indian) founded Zero…. Thats pure racism.. ☹️
I heard Zero was invented by Indian numerical| mathematical genius. so it’s Zero from the beginning not Oh. I think it’s more to do with sounding cool than professional. Zero have zero influence and ppl were like Oh 😮 so Oh Gathered more influenze than zero. 😂😂😂
Movies*
Null and void haha
This video is very naughty.
Naught naught you naughty beat
Also, Latin script was not accompanied by Arabic numerals until the Renaissance at the earliest
Sometimes in the US you'll hear "aught" for "zero", probably corrupted from "naught", almost always related to old-timey things like "THE YEAR NINETEEN AUGHT THREE" to say "1903". I think the only thing I've heard it used in contemporary usage is from american firearm enthusiasts describing bullet calibers, such as "30-06" being called "THIRTY AUGHT SIX"
Good observation most people never think about. 007 vs oo7
well, everyone else who uses the Latin alphabet, like the actual Latin people (french, spanish, italians, romanians) say "zero"
How about, "Oh for operator"?
Dunno if this is true, but I read that someone who won a new car on TPIR (or similar gameshow…) got the vanity license place I110O (which read out loud is “eye one one aught oh” or “I won one auto”)
I do say “zero zero 7” actually >:(
I used to know a pretty stupid guy that said zero instead of o for the letter o.
Aught was also used normally now though it’s been relegated to gun calibers
Seriously hate voice recognition over phones, I say zero to be clear, but then it hears me saying four as zero too?? Apparently all it heard was the vowel no matter how I tried to emphasise the f or r
For zero specifically, now we spell it 'nought' and not 'naught'