[Grammar] I called you thrice but you didn't hear to me

[Kumar Nadimuthu]

When you had entered into the gate, I saw you. I called you thrice, but you didn't hear to me and you have been walking very fast.

Is the above grammatical?

 

[Rover_KE]

When you [STRIKE]had entered into[/STRIKE] walked through the gate, I saw you. I called you thrice, but you didn't hear [STRIKE]to[/STRIKE] me and you [STRIKE]have been[/STRIKE] were walking very fast.

We know that 'thrice' means 'three times', but it's rarely used except in literary or poetic contexts.

 

[Tdol]

There are other possibilities, but ths one would be grammatical:

When you had entered through the gate, I saw you. I called you thrice, but you didn't hear me and you were walking very fast.

 

[Olympian]

We know that 'thrice' means 'three times', but it's rarely used except in literary or poetic contexts.

***** Not a teacher ***

In India it is common for people to use 'double' and 'triple' when mentioning their telephone or account numbers.
For example -
My number is 929 (nine two nine) 355 (three double five) 1234 (one two three four)
or
My number is 939 (nine three nine) 111 (triple one) 1234 (one two three four)

I noticed that some foreigners have trouble understanding when Indians say the numbers this way.
And on one occasion I have seen an Indian man getting irritated at another one for giving out a number something like this:

A: two double two one two three four (222 1234)
B: What?
A (slowly) : two - double two - one two three four
B (irritated) : Why can't you just say 'triple two'?

 

[Jill Dorchester]

***** Not a teacher ***

In India it is common for people to use 'double' and 'triple' when mentioning their telephone or account numbers.
For example -
My number is 929 (nine two nine) 355 (three double five) 1234 (one two three four)
or
My number is 939 (nine three nine) 111 (triple one) 1234 (one two three four)

I noticed that some foreigners have trouble understanding when Indians say the numbers this way.
And on one occasion I have seen an Indian man getting irritated at another one for giving out a number something like this:

A: two double two one two three four (222 1234)
B: What?
A (slowly) : two - double two - one two three four
B (irritated) : Why can't you just say 'triple two'?

If someone is writing down a number as it is being read to them, it is confusing to hear words other than numerals. So if I am on the phone to a call center, and the call center person is dictating a report number that I might have to refer to later, it interrupts my natural train of thought as I am writing to hear "four eight oh nine double one". My mind is concentrating on jotting down numerals and hearing the word "double" just derails the train of thought. Particularly if the call center person has a very heavy accent and the telephone connection is bad (I can hear many other call center operators speaking in the background) and I am struggling to comprehend what he is saying throughout the conversation.

(Just explaining one possible reason foreigners have a problem with "double X" in the middle of a series of numerals.)

 

[Rover_KE]

Thank you, Olympian and Jill, but your contributions have nothing to do with the OP.

 

[MikeNewYork]

I am pretty sure I have never used "thrice" in my life.

 

[Rover_KE]

But you knew what it meant, didn't you?

 

[MikeNewYork]

Yes. I think from the Bible.

 

[Tdol]

In India it is common for people to use 'double' and 'triple' when mentioning their telephone or account numbers

In BrE, you will hear double/treble used for this. Some use Two-double two.

 

[Tdol]

Yes. I think from the Bible.

Have an alternative:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Whittington#Dick_Whittington.E2.80.94stage_character

 

[MikeNewYork]

It seems to be in rapid decline.

https://books.google.com/ngrams/gra...irect_url=t1;,thrice;,c0;.t1;,three times;,c0

 

[Tdol]

I remember hearing some older people using it when I was a child, but haven't heard it for many years.

 

[Jill Dorchester]

Thank you, Olympian and Jill, but your contributions have nothing to do with the OP.

My apologies, I didn't mean to violate policy.

Regarding the use of "thrice", I tend to agree with Dorothy of The Golden Girls. :-D

 

[Rover_KE]

My apologies, I didn't mean to violate policy.

It's not a big deal; don't take it as a rebuke — I just wanted to stop the thread veering off in a different direction.

I enjoyed the Golden Girls clip.:-D

 

[bhaisahab]

In Indian (South Asian) English "thrice" is commonly used.

 

[Olympian]

Thank you, Olympian and Jill, but your contributions have nothing to do with the OP.

Rover_KE, you are right. I had thought of mentioning at the top of my post that it does not answer the OP's question, but didn't. Perhaps I should have quoted your post ("We know that 'thrice' means 'three times', but it's rarely used except in literary or poetic contexts.") while responding instead of OP's. I just wanted to convey that in India using 'double' and 'triple' is quite common and in my mind it was similar to 'twice' or 'thrice', which is also quite common. I make efforts to not limit myself to Indian English, although that is what we hear and read all around us, including on national TV, and I was hoping that bringing this (double/triple) to the notice of the readers of this forum, especially Indian ones, may benefit all from this exchange. So, I hope that what I wrote was not totally out of line. Having said that, please feel free to move or delete my posts as appropriate.

Jill, thank you for explaining why it is confusing, with a real life example. I just knew it is confusing, but I did not realize the reason for it (accent + ambient/background noise). What you wrote also explains why this happens with numbers, and not with letters. I think in the US people do use 'triple A' (as in 'triple-A rating for bonds' or as in 'American Automobile Association'). (Edit: Just saw the Golden Girls clip and it is quite funny. It is quite amazing that you had the exact reference.)

Tdol, thank you for the information regarding use of 'double' and 'two double-two' in BrE.

 

[Kumar Nadimuthu]

In Indian (South Asian) English "thrice" is commonly used.

Yes. It is very common in India probably, Engineers and Chemists often used this word in writing and speaking. When I write this post#1,my doubt was whether should I use Present contineous or Present perfect contineous tense in the last part of the sentence. However, I kept first part for the title as per the forum regulations, but 'thrice' very natural to me. He was walking even before I call him. His action was contineous.

Not a teacher.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

My dad was in advertising. He thought it was interesting and very funny that thrice can't be used in ads. He had to write things like "Not once, not twice, but...three times!"

I'm with Mike. Not only have I never used the word, I've never heard anyone use it - except to comment on what a useless word it is.* As we're doing here.

*Like beverage.

 

[MikeNewYork]

I use "beverage".