[General] a telephone number

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LiuJing

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If you want to say a telephone number such as 67340000 verbally, I would bet you don't say it as a mouthful ' six seven three four ou ou ou ou' , right?

What do you say it in your way? Can it read six seven three forty thousand? Thank you.
 

Barb_D

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Where I live, telephone numbers have a group of three, called an area code, then another three, called the exchange, and then four.

You say the numbers one at a time, unless they end with 00 or 000.

914-555-7983 is nine one four, five five five, seven nine eight three. You pause where the commas are.
914-555-7900 is nine one four, five five five, seventy-nine hundred.

Some people may say the first one as seventy-nine, eighty-three. I find that harder as the listener than saying them one at a time.

The area code I live in is 610. Some people say "six ten" instead of "six one oh." I also find that harder - I'm used to three digits.
 

tedtmc

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Yes, it's definitely easier to say or take down numbers in groups of three's or four's. (hmm.. have I used the apostrophes right?)

not a teacher
 

Ouisch

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If you want to say a telephone number such as 67340000 verbally, I would bet you don't say it as a mouthful ' six seven three four ou ou ou ou' , right?

What do you say it in your way? Can it read six seven three forty thousand? Thank you.

In the US, anyway, back in the days when people were unable to dial directly and had to give the number to an operator it was very common to say "Please give me Six Seven Three Forty Thousand." But when technology advanced so that people could dial phone numbers themselves, they started articulating each numeral when reciting a telephone number. Professional switchboard operators of yesteryear knew what we meant by "thousand," but individual consumers were easily confused. It eventually became more practical to simply say "six seven three four oh oh oh oh" when telling someone your telephone number, since the person receiving the information would most likely be writing down the digits one at a time. :-D
 

Barb_D

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Just humming Glen Miller now: Pennsylvania Six Five oh-oh-oh!
 

Rover_KE

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. . . in groups of three's or four's. (hmm.. have I used the apostrophes right?)

No. Just say '...in groups of three or four'.

When you do need to pluralise a number you don't need an apostrophe:

'I stacked the boxes in threes.'

Rover
 

philadelphia

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*Not a teacher at all

In my office, the English clients give the numbers one at a time while the French clients say the numbers in groups of two or three'
 
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