John Crowley's LJ (RSS Feed)
05-26-2008, 06:43 AM
The question of a name for written-out numbers as opposed to digits remains. I thought maybe the word might be "nominals" -- in line with "ordinals" (numbers showing order, as "first", "second" -- or "1st", "2nd") and "cardinals" -- numbers indicating quantity (six -- or 6 -- apples, etc.). But no, "nominals" are numbers that are also names, like the numbers on football jerseys, or ZIP codes: "This is going to 01341," "42 makes the catch").
Copy editors seem to merely say "write out" when they want you to change "4" to "four." "Numbers above 9 should be written out."
And yet there lingers this sense that there is a word for written-out numbers that distinguishes them from digits.
(Original Post) (http://crowleycrow.livejournal.com/87657.html)
Copy editors seem to merely say "write out" when they want you to change "4" to "four." "Numbers above 9 should be written out."
And yet there lingers this sense that there is a word for written-out numbers that distinguishes them from digits.
(Original Post) (http://crowleycrow.livejournal.com/87657.html)