OH! OH!
Sir,-Your correspondent "F-" (Christchurch), does not go far enough in his condemnation of the recently adopted method of announcing the time on the radio. I agree with him that there is something to be said for the 24-hour clock, though I don’t care whether the announcer says nineteen-forty-five hours or one-nine-four-five-hours. But there is nothing to be said for the senseless and quite incorrect practice of using a letter of the alphabet to express a number, In this the BBC (which certainly ought to know better), is as much at fault as our New Zealand stations. The Post Office was, I believe, the original offender. The authorities will, of course, have some explanation; but | doubt if it can be anything more con. vincing than the admission of a silly caprice based on the similarity of outline of letter and figure (like a full moon and a Dutch cheese): If that is ground sufficient for saying "Oh" instead of "nought," why not say "ell" instead of "one," the printed forms of which are identical. It would be good fun to hear the announcer say "Twenty-one-Oh-E!l. I, for one, should be’inclined to murmui "Them’s my sentiments."
J.W.
B.
(Wellington).
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19430514.2.9.1
Bibliographic details
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 8, Issue 203, 14 May 1943, Page 3
Word count
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199OH! OH! New Zealand Listener, Volume 8, Issue 203, 14 May 1943, Page 3
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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