How to pronounce 4.8.1.2? four point eight point one point two point? How awkward!

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A reason why derivational prefixes are less productive than derivational suffixes is perhaps that many of them are of Greek origin, whereas almost all the suffixes listed in 4.8.1.2 are of Romance or native Germanic origin. Many Greek prefixes, such as hyper-, mono-, and poly-, arrived in English more recently and have been exploited for new lexical items mainly in specialized scientific areas. It is noticeable that the two most productive prefixes are in fact Latinate ones co- and sub-. Furthermore, apart from their more technical overtones, the predves often do not express anything that could not equally be conveyed, at little greater length, with a numeral or adjective premodifier of the noun. By contrast, the suffixes more often encapsulate a meaning that would be longer and clumsier to convey in another way, as attested by the complexity of their meanings glossed in
4.8.1.2 and their predominant class-changing nature (see further discussion
below).

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[+3] - Region Philbis - 05/13/2012 i've always heard "point" used, not "dot". [size=85]ie.[/size] a 7.5 magnitude earthquake is pronounced "seven point five", not "seven dot five"...

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If I am on the phone or talking directly with someone and I want to direct the other person quickly to a section of a document which is numbered that way, the first time in the conversation I probably say "four dot eight dot one dot two" but if the other person is experienced we can move to just saying "four eight one two" (perhaps (not always) pausing between numbers to imply the separation provided visually by the dots)

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@contrex,

Cool.
Thanks.

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@oristarA,

i've always heard "point" used, not "dot".

ie. a 7.5 magnitude earthquake is pronounced "seven point five", not "seven dot five"...

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@oristarA,

I would always use use 'point' if the symbol were being used as a decimal. I would also use 'point' when indicating a minor software upgrade, like WordPerfect 3.1. For citations, I would most likely use 'dot' as Contrex does.

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@Region Philbis,

same thing if I'm talking about a piece of legislation

I would reference Section 42 subsection 3 point 4 for someone I'm training

if I'm talking to someone in the business it would be 42, sub 3, point 4

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@ehBeth,

ehBeth wrote:

same thing if I'm talking about a piece of legislation

I would reference Section 42 subsection 3 point 4 for someone I'm training

if I'm talking to someone in the business it would be 42, sub 3, point 4

In British legal terminology, Acts of Parliament are split like this: Each distinct "enactment" within an Act of Parliament is called a section (abbreviated "s.", plural "ss."). Each section has a distinct number, in continual sequence from "s. 1" (section one) onwards. If a section is subdivided or has subordinate elements, then these are known as subsections, each of which has a bracketed number; e.g., "s. 1(4)" is subsection 4 of section 1. Subsections are subdivided in turn into paragraphs, which are identified by an italicised letter; e.g., "s. 1(4)(c)". Subparagraphs are identified with lower-case Roman numerals; e.g., "s. 1(4)(c)(viii)".

That would be spoken as "section one, subsection four, paragraph cee, subparagraph eight".

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@Region Philbis,

Region Philbis wrote:

i've always heard "point" used, not "dot".

ie. a 7.5 magnitude earthquake is pronounced "seven point five", not "seven dot five"...

That is because 7.5 is a number, a whole number 7 and a decimal fraction .5. A chapter.paragraph.section type of designation is not. We don't say "Google point com" in English.

How to pronounce 4.8.1.2? four point eight point one point two point? How awkward!

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