Grammar nazis - what is the correct way to pronounce the number 156? A coworker said “a hundred and fifty six”; another coworker made fun of him for sounding like a hick, saying it should be “one hundred fifty six.” The phrase “a hundred” does sound less sophisticated to my ear, but it doesn’t seem technically incorrect.
I usually say them so quickly I wouldn’t notice either way. And I certainly wouldn’t call someone on pronouncing it one way or another. For what it’s worth, I work in the medical field, and I think it sounds almost robotic if someone says something like “give them one hundred and fifty milligrams of Pradax.”
In a slightly different case, the phrases “there are a hundred X” vs. “there are one hundred X” have different connotations to me. The former is an estimate or hyperbole; the latter sounds like someone’s giving me their best guess at an exact number.
Either are fine. It’s a matter of style. For formal use, I’d say “one hundred fifty-six.” Neither are “wrong” in any way.
You are going to get into national differences. I am English and say “a hundred and fifty-six”, but am aware that here in the US most people say “one hundred fifty-six”.
It depends on how many other 156es there are out there, and how particular you are about which one you are talking about.
If there are numerous 156es around, then “a hundred [and] fifty six” sounds like you mean that any one of them will do. But if you say “one hundred [and] fifty six” that sounds like you are talking about a particular one of them. (I’m not going to get into whether the “and” is right or wrong.)
On the other hand, if there is only ONE 156 then you should probably say “the hundred [and] fifty six”.
I immediately thought “one fifty six”.
“A hundred and fifty-six” or “a hundred fifty six.”
It’s the “and” that makes me twitch. I had a rather…vehement…teacher who lost his mind if you said “and” where there wasn’t a decimal.
Yeah, I never came across that with my English teachers, but I’ve heard many a person say that “and” means “decimal point.” Where does this idea come from? In spoken American English, I’ve never noted that to be the case.
How do you say 100.56? I’d say, “One hundred and fifty six one hundredths,” if I was speaking to the queen or a test proctor. (“One hundred point fifty six,” more casually.)
We were talking about this in the Pit:
Labrador Deceiver, provided some cool links on the subject:
Again
Again
I was only able to provide one that contradicted that:
Linky
I was told by my teacher NOT to use the and.
Off the cuff, I’d say “One hundred point fifty six” or “one hundred point five six.” Actually, probably the latter.
The number is One Hundred Fifty Six.
If you were writing a check in the US, you would be taught to write One Hundred Fifty Six and 00/00. So that is probably why “and” is associated with a decimal point by some people.
I don’t say One Hundred AND Fifty Six because (aside from money $100.56), that sounds like two different numbers: the number 100 and the number 56.
Personally, if I saw 156, I would say One Fifty Six to someone, unless it was an account number or part of a phone number. Then I would say One, Five, Six.
I would never say “A Hundred…” unless I was asking for a subset of a larger group (e.g. “Give me a hundred of them and you can keep the rest”)
Interesting. “101 Dalmatians” is usually referred to as “One hundred and one Dalmatians,” isn’t it? At least, that’s how it’s in the trailer.
I guess it must depend on your dialect. Here that “and” (pronounced more like “en,” so I’d say something like “a hundred-en-fifty six” or even “a hundurd-en-fifty six”) is common. I’d say that half the time I use it, half the time I don’t.
One hundred point five six.
Never -ever- point fifty six.
Only ‘fifty six one hundreths’ if you want to look like an old fogey who just doesn’t cotton to this whole decimal fraction thing.
Exactly. That was Mr. McCoy.
He was very persuasive.
See, this verbiage would momentarily confuse me between 100.56 or 156/100. I’d probably say “a hundred point five six.”
As for the OP, I would say “a hundred and fifty-six” most of the time and maybe “a hundred fifty-six” some of the time. If I was reading it off a piece of paper and something came after it (i.e 156 sheep), I’d read it out as “a hundred and fifty six sheep”) but if it was just a list of numbers or rote-counting or something I’d probably say one fifty-six.
Man, English is confusing.
I’m not a grammar prescriptivist. “A hundred and fifty-six” sounds just fine to my ears. If it makes other people cringe, so be it. Get over it. The only time I’ll use “One hundred fifty-six” is if I’m writing a check for that amount. I will use “and” to set off the amount of cents, as in “One hundred fifty-six and no/100 dollars.” That’s the only time I’ll take care to be precise.
Yes, it’s basically a question of US English versus British English, so both are correct in the same way that “color” and “colour” are both correct. However, I (who generally lean to the British side of things) would say “one hundred and fifty six”.
And in my opinion there is only one correct way to say 100.56: “One hundred point five six”. You can, however, say $100.56 as “one hundred dollars and fifty six cents”, or write “one hundred and 56/100 dollars” on a check/cheque in the U,S.
Depends if he said “ah” or “ay.”
Either way, is there a better way to feel like a big man then beating someone up over the most trivial flaws? Especially when it wasn’t one and the meaning was crystal clear.