Friday, October 28, 2022

Fractious Fraction

I remember holding out against calling September 11, 2001 "9/11." Something about it just bugged me, and it seemed as though September 11 (or Sept. 11 when space constrained) made a good enough shorthand.

Even more, I refuse to refer to January 6, 2021 as "1/6," which I'm pretty sure has not become common yet. Here's a good example of why it's a bad idea from today's Star Tribune:

One-sixth of a rioter? Combined with the 7½ years, the headline almost sounds like it's meant to be a word problem for children learning to multiply fractions…except it's not.

(And wow, check out the typo in the secondary headline!)


1 comment:

Unknown said...

I also have always refused to say 9/11 --- just not the kind of thing to give a nickname to.