'Why aren't people called numbers...morning 62, how are you 71?' blog discussion 17 May 2010 at 10:46AM in Martin's blogs & appearances & MoneySavingExpert in the news 45 replies 4.6K views

Former_MSE_Penelope

This is the discussion to link on the back of Martin's blog. Please read the blog first, as this discussion follows it.

Read Martin's "Why aren't people called numbers...morning 62, how are you 71?" Blog.

Please click reply to discuss below.

Claire_Bear

But there's so many people that it would end up being 'Hello Sixty Three Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty One!' and that would probably be a lot harder to remember than Paul or Sarah

I'm terrible at remembering names too I've been at my job since October, I've now pretty much grasped the name of everyone on the shop floor but I still don't know some of the till staff's name. After a month or two when everyone knew everyone and I still couldn't remember their names it would be way too embarassing to ask someone what they were called, especially now after 7 months

keet83

its not names its words. i too am very good with numbers but not as good with words. there a simple test that we did in human biology to find out how good your memory was with 2 different categories, numbers and words. some people were very good with words but no good with numbers and vice versa; others were not good with either and only a couple were good with both.

it can be due to what you do in your social life or job, what you learnt whilst still a child, etc. its nothing to be ashamed about, you just need to remember what that girls name was that you've been chatting to for the past 20 minutes in the nightclub! :rotfl:

keet83

Claire_Bear wrote: »

But there's so many people that it would end up being 'Hello Sixty Three Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty One!' and that would probably be a lot harder to remember than Paul or Sarah

I'm terrible at remembering names too

people have same names so why cant they have same numbers? just use a roman numeral as a surname and it should be fine :beer:

Oldernotwiser

" I am not a number; I am a free (wo)man"! The Prisoner

Claire_Bear

True but think about how many names there are in the world - hundreds and hundreds. If every name was given a different number it would still be quicker to say a name than it would their number. But say I had a daughter and called her 75 - when you say or think the name does it not become words anyway thus creating the same problem? Unless you have a mind which leans towards visualisation

keet83

Claire_Bear wrote: »

True but think about how many names there are in the world - hundreds and hundreds. If every name was given a different number it would still be quicker to say a name than it would their number. But say I had a daughter and called her 75 - when you say or think the name does it not become words anyway thus creating the same problem? Unless you have a mind which leans towards visualisation

people in different countries can have different languages and would therefore pronounce names differently, people have same names already; try googling your name or facebook it, there'll be several people with the same name.

Claire_Bear

I know that people have the same name as others :S I was just talking about first names, say Sarah was 1, Jane was 2, Emily was 3 etc, by the time you assigned every name a number it would go into the hundreds. But for example if Leanne was 134, and everyone who is called Leanne now had the number 134, it would still be quicker and easier to remember Leanne than it would 134, in my eyes anyway! But like I said, minds work differently, some are more likely to work logically and see the world in terms of maths, and other brains lean towards the creative and as such are better with words.

Both my names are French in origin, and they would be pronounced very differently in France than they are in England, but I don't see what point you're trying to make there

MSE_Martin

keet83 wrote: »

you just need to remember what that girls name was that you've been chatting to for the past 20 minutes in the nightclub! :rotfl:

I think Mrs MSE would rather I forgot that name (or didnt have anything to remember in the first place!)

Eric_Pisch

MSE_Martin wrote: »

I think Mrs MSE would rather I forgot that name (or didnt have anything to remember in the first place!)

that would raise an interesting issue

many less scrupulous men tend to refer to women as babe, love, darlin etc so that way they can not call them the wrong name by mistake during uhmm awkward moments when they may be focusing on other things

what sort of nicknames would we err they have if we all had numeric names

80085 i love you



What if our numeric number represented our position is society, changing as we progressed up and down the social scale, Queeny would be No 1 of course, Gordo would have been number 2 but now 68584612

Would house prices start to rise in areas where "lows" lived (people with low numbers) thus making there numbers even lower.

Would neighbours start bumping each other off to ensure they where the lowest on there street?

Owain_Moneysaver

The reverse applies. Why do we have special names for numbers instead of using ordinary names eg. paul apple, sarah apples, bob apples, emily apples, ...

If penelope has sarah apples and claire has bob oranges, and claire gives penelope paul oranges, what is the change from a trevor if apples cost eileen for george?