Why do we say Nine Eleven, not Nine One One?

[g7jhp]

Cliftonite said:

g7jhp said:

"Nine Eleven or "Nine One One"

Why use three words when you can use two?(and Nine Eleven sounds better IMO).

Or, by the same token, why use four syllables when you can use only three?

(O/T?: Is it twenty twenty one this year or two thousand twenty one?)

It's "Twenty Twenty One" not "Two thosand and twenty one"

We say things as full number.

19 90 Nineteen Ninety
19 84 Nineteen Eight Four

[Fink-Nottle]

Grantstown said:

The Germans say ‘neunelfer’ so I guess we’re just copying them?

We actually say "Elfer", or rather, they do, but I don't, because I detest it. Instead I say "Neunhundertelf", which is equally dumb.

How about Eleventy-Nine?

[webstercivet]

Scrump said:

It has been stated quite a few times already.
..
It is shorter and quicker to say ‘nine eleven’’ than to say ‘nine one one’.
..

If that's such a reliable rule, why does everyone say "nine one one" for the US emergency number?
(Also "one one" is two syllables, versus three syllables in "eleven").

[bearman68]

Gosh, I thought this thread was going to be about the twin towers thing. You know, the one on the 11th September. Or 119 as it should be known.

[E63eeeeee...]

webstercivet said:

Scrump said:

It has been stated quite a few times already.
..
It is shorter and quicker to say ‘nine eleven’’ than to say ‘nine one one’.
..

If that's such a reliable rule, why does everyone say "nine one one" for the US emergency number?
(Also "one one" is two syllables, versus three syllables in "eleven").

I don't think there are any reliable rules in this topic, but we do have a strong tendency to spell out phone numbers.

[67Dino]

Would this be a good moment to point out that quite a lot of the cars people call 911s (however they say it) aren’t a actually 911s anyway? They’re actually Porsche Carreras with code numbers of 964, 993 and so on. Got some of the brochures and the only place 911 gets mentioned is in the history section.

[g7jhp]

67Dino said:

Would this be a good moment to point out that quite a lot of the cars people call 911s (however they say it) aren’t a actually 911s anyway? They’re actually Porsche Carreras with code numbers of 964, 993 and so on. Got some of the brochures and the only place 911 gets mentioned is in the history section.

Rubbish they're all 911's.

The 964, 993, 996 is the model type.

[Pastie Bloater]

Grantstown said:

The Germans say ‘neunelfer’ so I guess we’re just copying them?

Fact check:

"The Porsche 911 (pronounced Nine Eleven or in German: Neunelfer). . ."

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porsche_911

Curiously this is not cited.

[67Dino]

g7jhp said:

67Dino said:

Would this be a good moment to point out that quite a lot of the cars people call 911s (however they say it) aren’t a actually 911s anyway? They’re actually Porsche Carreras with code numbers of 964, 993 and so on. Got some of the brochures and the only place 911 gets mentioned is in the history section.

Rubbish they're all 911's.

The 964, 993, 996 is the model type.

Oddly, no 911 number on them though.

[g7jhp]

67Dino said:

g7jhp said:

67Dino said:

Would this be a good moment to point out that quite a lot of the cars people call 911s (however they say it) aren’t a actually 911s anyway? They’re actually Porsche Carreras with code numbers of 964, 993 and so on. Got some of the brochures and the only place 911 gets mentioned is in the history section.

Rubbish they're all 911's.

The 964, 993, 996 is the model type.

Oddly, no 911 number on them though.

Read the One Millionth 911 announcement they are interchangeable.

[SRT Hellcat]

I tend more to call them by their model designation as I am usually around the older stuff. 67S, 2.2S, 3.2 Carrera, 3.6 Turbo etc. etc.
I would never use 9 1 1 just 9 eleven. The CGT the wife calls the batmobile. 9 eighty just wouldn't work

[g7jhp]

SRT Hellcat said:

I tend more to call them by their model designation as I am usually around the older stuff. 67S, 2.2S, 3.2 Carrera, 3.6 Turbo etc. etc.
I would never use 9 1 1 just 9 eleven. The CGT the wife calls the batmobile. 9 eighty just wouldn't work

I would agree. If I was talking with someone who knows about the models I'll use the name e.g. 3.2 Carrera or 996 turbo.

In general if they don't know much about cars I'll just say it's a 911. Always a nice surprise if they ask which model.

[Superleg48]

I tend to call them all “Fast Beetle”.

This is all I see:



Never appealed to me.

[g7jhp]

Superleg48 said:

I tend to call them all “Fast Beetle”.

This is all I see:



Never appealed to me.

Not sure you added to the discussion.

[Fink-Nottle]

Superleg48 said:

I tend to call them all “Fast Beetle”.

This is all I see:

That's exactly what I'm seeing also, and that is the appeal.

A single integrated design from the most successful basic car ever made all the way to one of the greatest sports cars of all time. VW and Porsche: epic genius.

[Grantstown]

I think Nine Eleven is a catch little name. Much easier than Gash-quai or whatever they’re called.

Peugeot did Porsche a favour, having already bagged the 901 name. I doubt that would have survived the (almost) 60 years.

[MrHappy]

webstercivet said:

Scrump said:

It has been stated quite a few times already.
..
It is shorter and quicker to say ‘nine eleven’’ than to say ‘nine one one’.
..

If that's such a reliable rule, why does everyone say "nine one one" for the US emergency number?
(Also "one one" is two syllables, versus three syllables in "eleven").

Maybe it’s nine one one because you need to press three buttons to dial it. If you called it nine eleven there could be a small percentage of the population that might get stuck after pressing the nine. Much like the ‘press any key’.

[anonymous-user]

So I don't think we have an answer. Being shorter doesn't cut it as there are examples of cars where we use the long version and others we use the shorter version.

[Maxym]

RDMcG said:

We didn’t say Twenty -one-one in 2011, nor did we describe the F-111 as the F-one-one, nor the Bristol Four-one-one for example.

I'd say Bristol Four-One-One (and Nine-One-One) but I'm with you on the other two.

[braddo]

Mr Spoon said:

So I don't think we have an answer. Being shorter doesn't cut it as there are examples of cars where we use the long version and others we use the shorter version.

You won't get one - there is no definitive answer for questions like this.

I just find nine-eleven easier to say (less lip movement) than nine-one-one even though it's more syllables.

And it's not as if there is some rule that needs to be followed about consistency.

When I think of BMW 3-series for example I tend to say:
- three one eight
- three twenty
- three two five
- three thirty