What is the origin of the abbreviated way Americans say large numbers?
eg. One hundred fifteen = 115
instead of
One hundred “and” fifteen.
To me, the first one almost suggests a multiplication as:
One hundred fifteen(s) = 1500
Thanks.
And following that, the phrase “one-fifteen” clearly means 115 to American ears, but to a non-native could be taken as one (meaning a single) 15.
It was probably shortened due to laziness. one hundred and fifteen became one hundred fifteen, and then shortened again to one-fifteen the same way that “one o’clock and fifteen minutes” became one-fifteen. Put it down to the evloution of the spoken language.
I still don’t like it when people say that my zip code is “two thousand five”. That’s 2005, but my zip code is actually 20005. But two thousand five might stick if enough people get lazy and start saying it.
There is possibly an analogy here: My high school (civics?) teacher taught us that when writing checks (that’s cheques to you), one uses the word “and” to designate the placement of the decimal point on the “alpha” line, i.e., “One hundred fifteen <and> 49/100” <dollars> where the numeric box contains “$115.49”. But then, this was in the days before outcome based education.
I don’t know the root of this practice, but I don’t think this would happen. When it’s written (‘115’), there’s no problem. And when it’s spoken, I think inflection makes it clear that it’s not the same as fifteen.
What do you say for 12,345?
Twelve thousand and three hundred and forty five?
No, that would be fifteen hundred 
(IIRC in UK you do not say “hundred” to read a 4-digit number ending in two zeroes)
We would say that as if it were a list – twelve thousand, three hundred and forty five, like one apple, two bananas and a bunch of grapes.
You don’t remember correctly, we do say “hundred” in those cases, but it’s colloquial, not standard except for dates.
In school, I think I remember being taught both 1) say “AND” after the hundreds place" and 2) don’t say “AND” at all. The “fifteen hundred” thing is colloquial. Doesn’t explain where it came from, but I thought I’d mention it.
The Chicago Manual of Style FAQ indicates both practices are acceptable. (Many professional editors and instructors consider CMS authoritative.)
I remember math teachers insisting students not use “and” in this way, but I don’t think I ever heard anything about it from English teachers.
In a mathematical context:
One hundred two thirds = 102/3
One hundred and two thirds = 100 2/3
But numbers like that don’t pop up very often in ordinary circumstances.
What about people like me, who compromise? If I saw “115”, I wouldn’t say “one hundred and fifteen” or “one-fifteen”, but something like, “hunnerdnfifteen” (note the ‘n’ between the ‘words’). And 12,345 would be “twelve thousand three hunnerdnfortyfive”.
What about people like me, who compromise? If I saw “115”, I wouldn’t say “one hundred and fifteen” or “one-fifteen”, but something like, “hunnerdnfifteen” (note the ‘n’ between the ‘words’). And 12,345 would be “twelve thousand three hunnerdnfortyfive”.
In elementry school math classes, we would be docked points for putting “and” in the middle of our number. The only suitable place for “and” was between the whole number and the decimal or fraction, at least according to elementry math school teachers in the 80’s. The number had to be “five hundred twenty five and fifty one hundredth” not “five hundred and twenty five and fifty one hundredth”. I guess they just wanted to cut down on all confusion. It has been drilled into me ever since. Although I would say a hundred and fifteen on occasion, I would probibly skip the “and” for a very large numbers. Damn overzealous elementry school teachers.
Okay, but what would you say for 12,345.45?
I don’t see how this is an analogy for the OP. I must be missing something–isn’t this a completely different situation? And I still write my checks this way. I thought everyone did. Or, is the OP saying that the check should be written as, “One hundred and fifteen dollars and 49/100”? (OK, maybe that was the analogy after all!)
I think that saying “three hundred AND forty-five” is about the same as saying the archaic “five and twenty” or even “twenty and five.”
Twelve thousand, three hundred and forty-five point four five
or
Twelve thousand, three hundred and forty-five and forty-five hundredths
I think I remember a teacher in grade school telling us not to say the “oh” or “and” in dates where the third digit is zero:
e.g. pronouncing 1906 as “nineteen six.” Not “nineteen oh six.” But saying it without the “oh” sounded so weird and artificial to me that I could never get used to it. Besides, no one except teachers really talked that way.
The zero as placeholder in place notation may have been unknown to the ancient Romans, but hey, Europeans have had at least 700 years now to get used to it.
Those make sense… but what about $12,345.45? Would you really say “and” twice?
BTW, has the British (DD/MM/YY) vs. American (MM/DD/YY) thing been discussed here? I’ve gotten into some delightful mind-numbing arguments about it with some British co-workers.
Thanks for the suggestions, very stimulating!
If the origins are just plain lazyness, how is it that “documentary” style TV shows keep up the practice?
Eg. In the UK we have plenty of regional dialect and slang, but when a documentary or news broadcast comes on the narrator usually speaks in the “Queens” English - the BBC house style of “proper” speaking.
USA shows tend to use the abbreviated way of speaking numbers regardless, indicating that it’s not a slang way of speaking at all but gramatically right.
Twelve thousand, three hundred and forty-five dollars and forty-five cents
or
Twelve thousand, three hundred and forty-five dollars forty-five
or
Twelve thousand, three hundred and forty-five forty-five.