# Clearly Better: A thread on superiority in ELEMENTARY systems of notation, nomenclature, etc **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 13, 2023, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clearly-better-a-thread-on-superiority-in-elementary-systems-of-notation-nomenclature-etc/993056 "2023-11-13T06:14:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2023, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clearly-better-a-thread-on-superiority-in-elementary-systems-of-notation-nomenclature-etc/993056/61 "2023-11-15T21:21:39Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > Open-top numeral 4 \>\>\> pointy-top 4. I demand satisfaction; pistols at dawn! When I’m writing numbers, I make an 8 with two counter-clockwise circles, and a 9 with a single clockwise motion. Neither is how I was taught, but I find them more legible. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2023, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clearly-better-a-thread-on-superiority-in-elementary-systems-of-notation-nomenclature-etc/993056/62 "2023-11-15T21:30:25Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Short words are good. > > So inches are better than centimeters, yards are better than meters, miles are better than kilometers, pounds are better than kilograms, teaspoons are better than milliliters, and quarts are better than liters. Nah, not persuaded that a one- or two-syllable difference per term is sufficient reason to keep putting up with the inconsistent metrology of English units instead of the more streamlined metric units. Not that non-metric systems need to be abolished or anything, just that overall, metric is Clearly Better. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2023, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clearly-better-a-thread-on-superiority-in-elementary-systems-of-notation-nomenclature-etc/993056/63 "2023-11-15T21:44:57Z")
The Belgian singer Angèle, who sings in French, titled her most recent album [Nonante-Cinq](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonante-Cinq). I guess as a reflection of her Belgian pride. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2023, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clearly-better-a-thread-on-superiority-in-elementary-systems-of-notation-nomenclature-etc/993056/64 "2023-11-15T21:45:56Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Short words are good Short words good; sesquipedalian vocabulary unacceptable. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2023, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clearly-better-a-thread-on-superiority-in-elementary-systems-of-notation-nomenclature-etc/993056/65 "2023-11-15T21:56:05Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > a 9 with a single clockwise motion What are you, Australian? A “9” should be made with a single counter-clockwise motion. (And certainly not as a hobo’s bindle.) ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2023, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clearly-better-a-thread-on-superiority-in-elementary-systems-of-notation-nomenclature-etc/993056/66 "2023-11-15T22:11:12Z")
Serif font capital i \>\> Sans serif capital i IIlllIIIllIllI - Which are capital i and which are lower case l? Ill, this makes me. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2023, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clearly-better-a-thread-on-superiority-in-elementary-systems-of-notation-nomenclature-etc/993056/67 "2023-11-15T22:30:39Z")
> [@Guapo](#): > > It just seems silly to have your smallest unit of currency 10 something. Right now, the smallest unit of physical currency in the US is 10 mills. Under the proposed change, the smallest unit of physical currency would be 1 dime. If we’re OK with vestigial mills now, why shouldn’t we also be OK with vestigial cents? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2023, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clearly-better-a-thread-on-superiority-in-elementary-systems-of-notation-nomenclature-etc/993056/68 "2023-11-15T22:33:50Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Right now, the smallest unit of physical currency in the US is 10 mills. Cite? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2023, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clearly-better-a-thread-on-superiority-in-elementary-systems-of-notation-nomenclature-etc/993056/69 "2023-11-15T22:37:29Z")
Tee-hee, 10 mills = 1 penny. AIUI, the US federal government never minted a 1-mill coin (though I believe there were some half-cent = 5-mill US coins made at some point?). But states were allowed to mint and circulate them for, e.g., paying sub-penny sales taxes. I don’t think any US jurisdiction makes sub-penny coins nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2023, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clearly-better-a-thread-on-superiority-in-elementary-systems-of-notation-nomenclature-etc/993056/70 "2023-11-15T23:08:10Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > What are you, Australian? I was taught, and I’d guess most Americans are, to make a counter-clockwise circle, and a vertical stroke. That looks rather inelegant to me, so I do a single clockwise motionfinishing at the end of the tail. It’s clearly a superior notation. This thread is also reminding me of a line from a TV show, “he likes his tea stirred anti-clockwise.” ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2023, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clearly-better-a-thread-on-superiority-in-elementary-systems-of-notation-nomenclature-etc/993056/71 "2023-11-15T23:33:10Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I was taught, and I’d guess most Americans are, to make a counter-clockwise circle, and a vertical stroke. Yeah, that’s the hobo’s bindle method. Very ugly, in mine opinion. I start from the bottom, go up counter-clockwise, reducing the radius to form a smaller circle. So it looks like a printed “9”. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2023, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clearly-better-a-thread-on-superiority-in-elementary-systems-of-notation-nomenclature-etc/993056/72 "2023-11-15T23:43:52Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Tee-hee, 10 mills = 1 penny. This is where I miss the old vBulletin headslap smiley. ---
**Author:** ![Guapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@Guapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guapo)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2023, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clearly-better-a-thread-on-superiority-in-elementary-systems-of-notation-nomenclature-etc/993056/73 "2023-11-16T16:55:08Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Right now, the smallest unit of physical currency in the US is 10 mills. Under the proposed change, the smallest unit of physical currency would be 1 dime. If we’re OK with vestigial mills now, why shouldn’t we also be OK with vestigial cents? So in the US, prices would only use 1 decimal place? So $2.50 would now be $2.5? Interesting. We’d have to scrap the quarter. ($0.25 for you non- Americans). Or as another poster proposed getting rid of decimals entirely. $2.50 is $25 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clearly-better-a-thread-on-superiority-in-elementary-systems-of-notation-nomenclature-etc/993056.md?page=3)