# Fahrenheit four-five-one or four fifty one? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 16, 2008, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fahrenheit-four-five-one-or-four-fifty-one/449519 "2008-05-16T03:44:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fahrenheit-four-five-one-or-four-fifty-one/449519/21 "2008-05-16T13:09:48Z")
Another “four fifty one” man here. Same thing for Boeing airplanes. “seven forty seven” not “seven four seven”. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fahrenheit-four-five-one-or-four-fifty-one/449519/22 "2008-05-16T13:11:19Z")
[QUOTE=Bayard] Same thing for Boeing airplanes. “seven forty seven” not “seven four seven”. [/QUOTE] Hijack: I don’t recall ever hearing seven forty seven. It’s seven four seven to me. But it’s an MD eighty eight. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fahrenheit-four-five-one-or-four-fifty-one/449519/23 "2008-05-16T14:16:38Z")
It’s a temperature. When you read your thermometer or set your thermostat, how do you describe it? That’s how you’re going to say the book’s title. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fahrenheit-four-five-one-or-four-fifty-one/449519/24 "2008-05-16T14:24:41Z")
Well, no. If my thermometer reached 451 degrees, I probably wouldn’t be describing it at all. If I were telling somebody a setting for, say, an oven, I would most likely say to set it at “four fifty one,” or set it at “four hundred and fifty one degrees Fahrenheit.” I would never use the format “Fahrenheit [followed by number]” in speech or print except in a quotation or reference to the title of a work. ---
**Author:** ![Galwegian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galwegian/32/3426_2.png) [@Galwegian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galwegian)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fahrenheit-four-five-one-or-four-fifty-one/449519/25 "2008-05-16T14:49:43Z")
Four five one. It’s a “Boeing seven four seven” to me as well. I wonder if **Quartz** is right, and it’s different on either side of the pond? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fahrenheit-four-five-one-or-four-fifty-one/449519/26 "2008-05-16T14:59:27Z")
[QUOTE=amarone] Hijack: I don’t recall ever hearing seven forty seven. It’s seven four seven to me. But it’s an MD eighty eight. [/QUOTE] While I’ve heard “seven four seven,” I’m slightly more familiar with “seven forty seven” and that’s the wording I use for 747. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fahrenheit-four-five-one-or-four-fifty-one/449519/27 "2008-05-16T15:17:12Z")
[QUOTE=Bambi Hassenpfeffer] Doesn’t the opening narration in the movie use “Fahrenheit Four Five One”? I would swear to it, but surprisingly enough, YouTube doesn’t have a video of the opening titles. [/QUOTE] How about [the trailer](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfAIL0aZuUI)? ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fahrenheit-four-five-one-or-four-fifty-one/449519/28 "2008-05-16T15:25:27Z")
The caption for that video says “A Cinematic trailer I made for english class,” so it can hardly be considered authoritative. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fahrenheit-four-five-one-or-four-fifty-one/449519/29 "2008-05-16T15:38:20Z")
It does use clips from the movie, though. [Here’s the real trailer, courtesy TCM](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IiPwqTplfE&feature=related). ---
**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:** [May 16, 2008, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fahrenheit-four-five-one-or-four-fifty-one/449519/30 "2008-05-16T16:18:36Z")
According to the [Utopia](http://www.amazon.com/Swing-Right-Utopia/dp/B0000032PJ) song “Fahrenheit 451” it’s pronounced “four fifty-one.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fahrenheit-four-five-one-or-four-fifty-one/449519.md?page=1)