Editing 2132: Percentage Styles

{{comic
| number    = 2132
| date      = April 3, 2019
| title     = Percentage Styles
| image     = percentage_styles.png
| titletext = In a tribute to classical Latin, I started pronouncing it 'per-kent.' Eventually my friends had to resort to spritzing me with a water bottle like a cat to train me out of it.
}}

==Explanation==
On March 29, 2019, The {{w|AP Stylebook}} changed a long-standing rule that forbade press writers from using the percent sign (%) when writing percentages. This had long been a controversial rule, leading to much debate over the preferable way to write percentages, before the Associated Press finally conceded the point. 

The comic lists the best to worst ways in which you can write out phrases that are phonetically the same as "65%".  They go from the common "65%" and "65 percent" to "65 per cent," which is not common in Randall's area and time, to the eccentric "sixty-five%" and "65 per¢" (using the cent currency symbol) which are not used in normal writing and would stand out like a sore thumb when read. The middle option, "65 per cent", was common in older literature, along with "65 per cent.", using "cent." as an abbreviation for "centum", which is Latin for "hundred". ("per" in Latin translates to "through", "for", and several other English prepositions.) The entire string would translate to "65 for every hundred." "Per cent" is more widely used in British English than in American English today.

A small gap between the ends of the bar and the best and worst options may suggest the existence of even better and worse options not listed in this comic, such as "6ty5/¢".

Other abbreviations not mentioned in the comic include "pct.", "pct" or "pc". See {{w|Percentage}}.

The title text references the ambiguity of {{w|hard and soft C}} in English. In Classical Latin, "C" is always pronounced like "K". However, in English, most "C"s before E, I and Y (including "percent") are soft, and pronounced like "S". In academia, [http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/mc/latinpro.pdf Latin students are taught the Classical Latin pronunciations of words], rather than the pronunciation used by the Catholic church. Some students of Latin may adopt the Latin pronunciation of English words derived from Latin. Such people may tend more to pronounce, even when not the correct choice, "celtic" like "keltic" (this ''is'' the correct choice, except for the {{w|Boston Celtics|basketball team}}), "caesar" like "kaiser", or "cent" like "kent" (although since this involves obviously saying something others aren't going to understand unless they took the same classes, it might as well be "per kentum").

People sometimes train a cat out of a bad behavior, such as scratching upholstery, by spritzing the cat with water when the cat does the undesired behavior. In this case, Randall's friends found him so annoying they trained him out saying "per kent" by spraying him with water every time he pronounced it that way. Training people this way was previously a punchline in [[220: Philosophy]], while training a cat this way was previously a punchline in [[1786: Trash]].

===Styles and their acceptability===
;65%
:This is the standard way of writing percentages. Randall's approval acceptability is 98%.
;65 percent
:This one has no space, it is more common in American English. Rating: 97%
;65 per cent
:This one has a space, it is more common in British English. Rating: 86%
;Sixty-five%
:This one writes out the number, but not the percent sign. Rating: 60%
;65 per¢
:This one uses the cent symbol in place of the word cent, which is incorrect in this context, as ''cent'' here does not refer to a currency. Rating: 2%

==Transcript==
:Percentage styles in order of acceptability
:[A long vertical line is shown with five dots on it.]
:[Label at the top:]
:Best
:[Dot labels from top to bottom:]
    <!-- How smart are screen readers at recognizing the differences?-->
:65%<!-- ["6", "5" and a "%" symbol]-->
:[very short distance]
:65 percent<!-- ["6", "5" and the word "percent"]-->
:[at roughly quarter scale]
:65 per cent<!-- ["6", "5" and two words "per" and "cent"]-->
:[at roughly half scale]
:Sixty-five%<!-- ["Sixty-five" as a word and a "%" symbol]-->
:[at the end]
:65 per¢<!-- ["6", "5", the word "per" and the "¢" currency symbol]-->

[[Category:Charts]]

{{comic discussion}}