# Grade school numbering **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 21, 2013, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grade-school-numbering/671849 "2013-10-21T18:49:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grade-school-numbering/671849/1 "2013-10-21T18:49:59Z")
Poll coming. I never heard anyone use cardinal numbers to describe their grade-school\* year (e.g., “grade three”) until I heard it here many years ago, and it still sounds alien and weird to me. When and where I grew up, we used ordinal numbers for our school grades (e.g., “third grade”). After voting, please reply with where and when (decade is fine) you were in grade school. \*For purposes of this thread, ignore descriptors like “freshman,” “sophomore,” etc. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grade-school-numbering/671849/2 "2013-10-21T18:52:11Z")
South Carolina, 70s/80s. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grade-school-numbering/671849/3 "2013-10-21T18:54:20Z")
Cardinals in Victoria (Australia), early 1980s. Ordinals in Maryland (USA), later 1980s. \*And I screwed up the vote already, since I didn’t remember the cardinals until after I voted. In your head, you can change one of the “ordinal” votes to “other.” Sorry. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grade-school-numbering/671849/4 "2013-10-21T18:55:19Z")
Cardinals, Ontario, 80s. I am to understand that referring to “Grade X” is as much a Canadian shibboleth as referring to “eaves troughs” is. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grade-school-numbering/671849/5 "2013-10-21T18:57:06Z")
South of Boston, 80’s (graduated from grade school in 1989) I picked ordinals ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grade-school-numbering/671849/6 "2013-10-21T19:21:43Z")
I think it’s a Canadian vs. American thing - we’ve always said “Grade 1, Grade 2,” etc. but Americans seem to say “First Grade, Second Grade.” Kind of like “pop” and “soda”? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grade-school-numbering/671849/7 "2013-10-21T19:25:56Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > I think it’s a Canadian vs. American thing That’s sort of what I’m trying to establish by asking folks to tell me where they went to school, though we’ve already had one data point for “grade one” from Australia. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grade-school-numbering/671849/8 "2013-10-21T19:55:24Z")
MD 60’s/70’s ordinals ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grade-school-numbering/671849/9 "2013-10-21T21:09:12Z")
Canadian, and we say Grade 1, Grade 2… we also refer to high schools grades as Grade 9, 10, 11, and 12 (and 13, once upon a time) instead of the U.S. system of freshman, sophomore, junior, senior. It’s definitely a US/Canada split. I have never met an American who says it the way I do, but Canadians generally say “Grade 3” and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grade-school-numbering/671849/10 "2013-10-21T22:02:48Z")
Ordinals here in California, from back in the 70’s when I was in school up until the present day. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grade-school-numbering/671849/11 "2013-10-21T22:06:17Z")
Other. Both ways. Ordinal more often. In the first person it always seems to be ordinal - “I’m in the first grade”. Third person using cardinal numbers sounds like a teacher - “He’s in grade three”. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grade-school-numbering/671849/12 "2013-10-21T22:20:58Z")
Throw in another Cardinal from Soviet Canuckistan, 2000s. ---
**Author:** ![48Willys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/db5fbb/32.png) [@48Willys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/48Willys)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grade-school-numbering/671849/13 "2013-10-22T07:53:20Z")
I am American. My aunt is from Canada, she taught my cousins and my siblings the Cardinal way while my folks taught us the Ordinal way. I usually use the Cardinal, I will use the Ordinal if whomever I am talking to insists that I do. I also use EH? quite a bit. Having friends and relatives that are Canadians has indeed shaped my vocabulary. I also use vineger on my fries. Pop sounds fine to me as does soda. I usually use the brand name of the soft drink when I discuss it. I did mark Cardinal for the poll. ---
**Author:** ![tallcoldone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9a140/32.png) [@tallcoldone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tallcoldone)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grade-school-numbering/671849/14 "2013-10-23T17:28:17Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Canadian, and we say Grade 1, Grade 2… we also refer to high schools grades as Grade 9, 10, 11, and 12 (and 13, once upon a time) instead of the U.S. system of freshman, sophomore, junior, senior. > > It’s definitely a US/Canada split. I have never met an American who says it the way I do, but Canadians generally say “Grade 3” and so on. Love me some Barenaked Ladies: [http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/barenaked+ladies/grade+9\_20013338.html](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/barenaked+ladies/grade+9_20013338.html) 🙂 Oh, btw - Ohio, 60’s/70’s - First, Second, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grade-school-numbering/671849/15 "2013-10-23T17:40:59Z")
Texas, in the 60s, and ordinal. ---
**Author:** ![Zyanthia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Zyanthia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyanthia)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grade-school-numbering/671849/16 "2013-10-23T19:47:00Z")
Ordinals: North Dakota/South Dakota/Arizona all 3 used same format. Oops, sorry, late 70’s to early 80’s. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grade-school-numbering/671849/17 "2013-10-23T21:42:14Z")
I use both, although “Third grade” is far more common than “Grade 3.” NC. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grade-school-numbering/671849/18 "2013-10-25T21:41:45Z")
Michigan, 80’s, first grade, second grade, etc. This cultural split sometimes makes me wonder if foreign versions of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader would be called Are You Smarter Than a Grade 5er… What \*\*do \*\*you call someone in grade 5 as opposed to someone in 5th grade? ---
**Author:** ![jebert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ec9cab/32.png) [@jebert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jebert)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grade-school-numbering/671849/19 "2013-10-26T02:56:44Z")
I’ve never heard cardinals used this way in the US - from the 50’s to present day. I used to (and still do) use 9th grade/ freshman, 10th grade/ sophomore, etc. pretty much interchangeably. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grade-school-numbering/671849/20 "2013-10-26T03:20:28Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > This cultural split sometimes makes me wonder if foreign versions of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader would be called Are You Smarter Than a Grade 5er… Pretty much every English language version is called either “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” or, in countries where they don’t call them “grades”, “Are You Smarter Than a 10-Year-Old?”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grade-school-numbering/671849.md?page=2)