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

[anonymous-user]

So watching the 24h of the nurburgring, I somehow had this thought, why do we say 911 (nine eleven) when talking about Porsches flagship model but all the others we say each number individually, 9-2-8, 9-4-4 or 9-1-8, 9-8-6, 9-8-7 etc etc ?

[anonymous-user]

Pica-Pica said:

It is all about lip and tongue movement. Including syllables - the mouth takes the quickest movement.
It is the same with Welsh language initial letter mutations, hard for a beginner to understand, but it is simply a case of ease of lip, tongue, and mouth movements. At least that is my take on it.

I speak Welsh. I'm from Pembrokeshire

[anonymous-user]

dbdb said:

It's cultural - just how English speakers treat certain numbers in speech.

It's not limited to the Porsche 911. Very few people people would call their Volvo 940 a Volvo Nine-four-zero or a Volvo Nine hundred and forty, it would be regarded as most pedantic if they did. Almost everyone calls them a Volvo Nine-Forty. Similarly, The old Austin 1100 was called an Austin Eleven-hundred, not an Austin One-one-zero-zero, so it isn't limited to foreign-made cars.

i called my boxster a 9 - 8 - 6 not a 9 - 86.

so your volvo point doesn't answer the question. Why we call a 9-40 volvo that and others we say each number, is a mystery to me

[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.

[anonymous-user]

webstercivet said:

Good example. And good luck to anyone trying to learn English!

I used to say three three five for my 335, but three thrirty for a 330!

and yes, good luck to anyone trying to figure this out, second language or first


I was hoping there was a reason, eg the manufacturer introduced it this way etc