Number 0 and letter O

superscaper

loulou41 wrote: »

That's another 2 letters I get confused with as well. Thanks to all of you, I think, it is a zero because it has a slash across it which seems strange as all the other are letters. J0XX, you would have thought it should be the letter O not zero.

Well if it has a slash across it then it really should be a zero.
Other letters I have to be careful with when handwriting:
s and 5 (I'm ok normally but if I make the 5 a bit too curly I'm stuffed with how to distinguish it without making a mess)
Z and 2 (I sometimes put a horizontal line through the Z)

esuhl

The easiest way to tell the difference is to copy and paste the text into Notepad, then change to a font where there's a clear difference between the two characters. The ZDingbats font shows zero as a pencil, and lower- and upper-case letter Os as a square with a shadow, and a star respectively.

Incidentally, there's nothing wrong with referring to the number zero as "oh" when speaking!

barjam_2

oldagetraveller wrote: »

Most people also seem to have difficulty in determining whether it's letter O or number zero when they speak as well. e.g. A 'phone number is made up of just that, numbers, but the majority say O(letter) instead of correctly 0(zero, number).
I'm as guilty as most but do try to say zero and not O(letter) when I remember!!

me too i always say zero as i think saying 'o' sometimes sounds like a 4 when talking on the phone

superscaper

esuhl wrote: »

Incidentally, there's nothing wrong with referring to the number zero as "oh" when speaking!

Unless you need to be unambiguous.

esuhl

I've never confused a 4 and a zero when taking phone calls(!), but when I used to give out software activation codes, you'd be amazed at the number of people who ask, "Is that the number zero or the letter zero?" Errr....

esuhl

superscaper wrote: »

Unless you need to be unambiguous.

In which case you simply say "zero". But "oh", as a verbal representation of the number zero is perfectly acceptable. Most people say "oh" when referring to the first digit of a telephone number, for example, and whilst I have heard of "room one-oh-one", I haven't heard of "room one-zero-one".

Donnie

Just because people do it, doesn't make it right.
Remember smoking cigarettes?

One, zero, one is correct. One, oh, one is not.

MercilessKiller

If you have access to the o/0 on the computer simply copy and paste it. Then it doesnt matter whether its an O, 0 or Z for that matter!

Toxteth_OGrady

Donnie wrote: »

One, zero, one is correct. One, oh, one is not.

James Bond = double zero seven :rolleyes: Nah!!

:cool:

TOG

superscaper

Toxteth_OGrady wrote: »

James Bond = double zero seven :rolleyes: Nah!!

:cool:

TOG

James Bond, known for it's technical accuracy?