One (1) More Thing That Bugs Me

I've received a number of comments from people who read my February 5 post, a drooling rant about people who insist on typing two spaces between sentences. I thought I'd add another pet peeve from the editing world.

Have you noticed how often people spell out a number, and then put it in parentheses? What's this all about? Someone writes, "I went to the store and bought ten (10) cans of cat food for my two (2) cats." I suppose there are, indeed, people in the world who never learned to spell their numbers, and (&) therefore need to see the aramaic numeral in parentheses (()). I never learned to correctly type numbers in 7th (seventh) grade, because the semester ended before we got to the number (#) row, so maybe this happened to people in second (2nd) grade reading class. But still, don't you think this is a bit silly? Maybe people do it merely because they see other people do it, and they assume that it is therefore correct or necessary. In 27 (twenty-seven) years as a professional editor, I have NEVER allowed this to go into print. I always edit it out.

If this is necessary, then perhaps we should extend it to other things:

  • "I went to bed at 10:00 (ten o'clock)."
  • "The baby weighed 7 lbs, 6oz" would become, "The baby weighed 7 (seven) lbs (pounds), 6 (six) oz (ounces)." That way, there would be no mistaking it.
  • "I live in Ft. (Fort) Wayne, Ind. (Indiana)."
  • "The score was 42-13 (twenty-four to thirteen)."
  • "I have 20/20 (twenty-slash-twenty) vision."
  • "I paid $45 (forty-five dollars), plus (+) change, to fill my truck with gas! (exclamation point)"
  • "This is my second (2nd) editorial rant."
It's too bad that readers are so doggone, unredeemably stupid that we must put things in parentheses to avoid confusion, but I guess that's the way it is. At (@) least, judging by the number (#) of people who still insist on duplicating a written-out number in parentheses. But alas, I may be showing some elitism here. Not everyone has the benefit of a degree from Huntington University (HU), as do I. In writing, we must be conscious of the unlearned huddled masses yearning to read numbers accurately.

So that's today's (February 17th's (seventeenth's)) rant. Don't for a second (2nd) think this is the last one (1). I've got more.

Posted on February 17, 2006 10:11 PM|

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