Difference between revisions of "2132: Percentage Styles"

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==Explanation==
 
==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a Classicist and a Mathematician. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
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{{incomplete|Created by a Classicist. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
  
The comic lists ways in which you can write out phrases which phonetically are the same as "65%" listed from best to worst. They go from the common "65%" and "65 percent" to the odd "sixty-five%" and "65 per¢" which nobody would ever actually use. The middle option, "65 per cent", was common in older literature, along with "65 per cent." (ending in a period even in the middle of a sentence); this shows the origin as an abbreviation for "65 per centum", which is Latin for "65 for [each] hundred".
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The comic lists ways in which you can write out phrases which phonetically are the same as "65%" listed from best to worst. They go from the common "65%" and "65 percent" to odd "sixty-five%" and "65 per¢" which nobody would ever actually use.
  
In Classical Latin, C is believed to have been pronounced like K; but the C in "percent", like most C's from Latin roots in modern languages, is pronounced like S.
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The title text references Latin pronunciations, which are often different from English ones. In this case, Randall's friends found him so annoying they trained him out of it like a cat by spraying him with water every time he said the word that way.
 
 
The title text references Latin pronunciations, which are often different from English ones. In this case, his friends found him so annoying they trained him out of it like a cat by spraying him with water every time he said the word that way.
 
  
 
==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==
 
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
 
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:Percentage styles in order of acceptability
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Percentage styles in order of acceptability
:[A long vertical line is shown with five dots on it.]
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:[Label at the top:]
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Best
:Best
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:[Dot labels from top to bottom:]
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65%
:65%
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:[short distance]
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65 percent
:65 percent
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:[a much longer distance]
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65 per cent
:65 per cent
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:[a distance roughly twice the previous]
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Sixty-five%
:Sixty-five%
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:[an exceedingly long distance]
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65 per¢
:65 per¢
 
  
  
 
{{comic discussion}}
 
{{comic discussion}}

Revision as of 16:43, 3 April 2019

Percentage Styles
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.
Title text: 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

Ambox notice.png This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Created by a Classicist. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.
If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.

The comic lists ways in which you can write out phrases which phonetically are the same as "65%" listed from best to worst. They go from the common "65%" and "65 percent" to odd "sixty-five%" and "65 per¢" which nobody would ever actually use.

The title text references Latin pronunciations, which are often different from English ones. In this case, Randall's friends found him so annoying they trained him out of it like a cat by spraying him with water every time he said the word that way.

Transcript

Ambox notice.png This transcript is incomplete. Please help editing it! Thanks.

Percentage styles in order of acceptability

Best

65%

65 percent

65 per cent

Sixty-five%

65 per¢


comment.png add a comment! ⋅ comment.png add a topic (use sparingly)! ⋅ Icons-mini-action refresh blue.gif refresh comments!

Discussion

The only proper style for Britain and the US is ‘%65’. Aasasd (talk) 16:20, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

O RLY? 108.162.241.52 16:37, 3 April 2019 (UTC)
Yes. You don't write ‘65$’, do you? British/US standards should be followed properly and consistently. Aasasd (talk) 17:19, 3 April 2019 (UTC)
If there is any consistency, it is that unit follows numbers. 3', 2 m, 40 lbs, 2 l, and so on. Currency is the exception. --Klausok (talk) 10:33, 4 April 2019 (UTC)
I've definitely seen %NN stated by style guides, but I almost never see anybody using it, because reading it aloud encourages saying it as "percent sixty-five". Oddly, people seem to have no trouble remembering to write $65 instead of 65$, despite the same "dollars sixty-five" vs "sixty-five dollars" vocalization issue. Perhaps it's because we often see things like $65.95 but %65.95 is used less often? Writing 65.95% is potentially ambiguous depending on how it's read out loud: "sixty-five point ninety-five percent" could definitely be misinterpreted very easily. 65.95$ is definitely not ideal, & $65.95¢ is somehow even worse. How about 65$.95¢? ;S
ProphetZarquon (talk) 17:08, 3 April 2019 (UTC)
At https://ask.metafilter.com/7894/Is-the-form-of-100-instead-of-100-a-different-language-useage discussers encountered %NN but eventually decided it was a mistake spread by low literacy. More common is "NNpc". 172.69.63.47 20:33, 3 April 2019 (UTC)



There's also 65/100, 65:100, \textstyle\frac{65}{100}, sixtyfive-hundreth, 0.65, and point sixty-five. Benny. 16:41, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

There's also 650‰ 172.69.33.41 16:52, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

Wouldn't that be 650 hundredths? I've seen "and sixty-five ‰" a cheque before. ProphetZarquon (talk) 17:08, 3 April 2019 (UTC)
"650‰" is "650 per mille (per thousand)", and is precisely the same as "65%". RandalSchwartz (talk) 19:42, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

Even lower than 65 per¢ should be 65 per penny. -boB (talk) 20:00, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

==

BTW, I can imagine the transcript of this one posing some challenge for screen readers. Aasasd (talk) 17:01, 3 April 2019 (UTC) \´65

On a second thought, I can also imagine people who use screen readers never hearing any difference between the writing styles listed in the comic. Aasasd (talk) 17:24, 3 April 2019 (UTC)
[ID: A vertical scale titled "Percentage styles", with the label "Best" at the top of the scale. There are five markings, each with a different way to write "65%".]
[The first marking is near the top. It is labeled with the numeral "65" and the percent sign.]
[The second marking is just below, and labeled with the numeral "65" and the word "percent".]
[The third marking is farther down the scale, at about a quarter from the top. It is labeled with the numeral "65", the word "per", and the word "cent".]
[The fourth marking is at the middle of the scale. It is labeled with the words "sixty-five" followed by the percent sign.]
[The lowest marking at the bottom of the scale is labeled with the numeral "65", the word "per", and the cent currency symbol.] 172.70.233.173 04:57, 10 September 2023 (UTC)

This may have come up because last Friday the A.P. Stylebook announced their changes for 2019, including a change to percent. https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2019/ap-says-the-percentage-sign-now-ok-when-used-with-a-numeral-thats-shift5/

Missing

Compile here the missing styles:

  •  %65
  • 65 pc, 65 pct, 65 pct., 65 cent
  • sixty-five percent; sixty-five per cent; sixty-five per ¢
  • sixty-five per hundred; 65 for every 100
  • 65% percent; 65% per cent; 65% per ¢
  • 65/100; 65÷100; 65:100; 65 x 1/100
  • 65*10^-2; 65×10⁻²; 65×10^-2; 65*10⁻²; 6.5e-1
  • 0.65; 0,65
  • 65 per penny (wasn't this a joke?)
  • almost 2/3rds
  • 65¢^-1; 65¢⁻¹
  • 65 pennies on the dollar; 65 cents on the dollar
  • 13/20
  • \SI{65}{\per\cent}
  • LXV/C (Like the ancient Romans would write.)

162.158.79.191 19:35, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

Also 6.5e-1. -- Hkmaly (talk) 23:29, 3 April 2019 (UTC)
Also simply 'cent,' which is used in property tax assessment in California. It's a pretty sneaky way to make the tax seem really small. --

Yeah, Randall dropped the ball on this one. I am disappoint. At the very least there should have been an entry where "per" was written as "/". Also since the cent sign is not on most keyboards but the dollar sign is, I would have expected "6500/$". Also, google agrees: https://www.google.com/search?q=6500%2F%24+in+cent^-1 :p 141.101.96.187 07:30, 4 April 2019 (UTC)

I was waiting for 650‰ or even 6500‱. Maybe next time. JohnHawkinson (talk) 23:13, 5 April 2019 (UTC)

What about 65/¢ or even sixty-five/¢? (sorry, this wiki doesn't use math markup at all, so not even comments can contain it). 172.68.50.37 10:17, 9 March 2023 (UTC)

= Celtic =

I suggest you remove the reference to "celtic". In modern English it's rarely pronounced "seltic" except in the names of a couple of sports teams. There is a substantial discussion of this online - just Google "pronounce celtic". Irish people are Celtic and almost zero Irish say "seltic" - except in relation to Glasgow Celtic football club. 162.158.38.190 08:28, 4 April 2019 (UTC)

oops! I figured because I learned Latin and was the only person who said 'keltic' when I saw a sports team, that I was wrong! 162.158.78.58 11:22, 4 April 2019 (UTC)

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Narrow non-breaking space missing

Randall disappoints tbh. The omly proper way would be 65 %. --172.68.50.160 22:52, 4 April 2019 (UTC)

In English, no. In German, yes. 172.68.50.135 13:42, 9 March 2023 (UTC)

C in Latin

“In Classical Latin, "C" is always pronounced like "K".” – that’s wrong. It depends on the school (and maybe also the country). Where I learned Latin, most c were pronounced like the German z (for example in Caesar). --DaB. (talk) 13:01, 5 April 2019 (UTC)

That's not classical Latin - that's vulgar Latin. The classical Latin C derived from the Greek gamma, and is pronounced like 'K' - you can even see the derivation in the shape of the letter. You are conflating vulgar with classical here. Hyperum (talk) 04:34, 10 April 2019 (UTC)

@ IP 108.162.241.52, please do not """"correct"""" the pronunciation of kaiser (Caesar) to 'keezer' again. That isn't how Latin is pronounced. Hyperum (talk) 04:34, 10 April 2019 (UTC)

centum vs. cent vs. penny

In this context, "cent" is an abbreviation for the Latin word "centum", meaning 100. In English, the word "cent" means 1/100th of a dollar, which is one of the three official versions of the currency of the United States. They are: dollars, dimes, and cents. Substituting cent (currency) for cent (abbreviation for "centum") is a malapropism. But "penny" refers to British currency, not American. The penny (plural:pence) was 1/240 of a pound until decimalization in the 1970s, and 1/100 of a pound thereafter. Americans often refer to a one-cent coin as a "penny", but this is just a nickname, not the actual name of the coin or the value of the coin. The name of the coin is one cent. Its value is 1 cent, which equals 1/10 of a dime, or 1/100 of a dollar. Changing centum --> cent--> penny would be a double malapropism.

This begs the question, how far can we push beyond the boundaries of reason? Indeed, that is the entire spirit of Randall's premise here. Why stop with a double malapropism? We could use centum --> cent --> scent. Heck, why not centum --> cent --> penny --> penne --> macaroni --> Marconi --> Tesla. Where do we stop? Common sense tells me I'm way over the line. But common cents tell me nothing.162.158.107.79 14:31, 8 April 2019 (UTC)

My sarcasm detector has finally broke. “That Guy from the Netherlands” (talk) 14:32, 8 April 2019 (UTC)
There may be an infinite malapropism chain as well (an example of extending the above 6× malapropism to 15×: … → Tesla → Edison[* 1] → ampere → volt → Volta → Don → John → Jones → joins → joint → joined → …), using names of physicists, units, rivers, verbs and given names. 172.68.51.171 13:55, 9 March 2023 (UTC)
  1. For the next step: 1 edison is 100 A