# How do you usually say this number: 1,200? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 28, 2026, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-usually-say-this-number-1-200/1029621 "2026-04-28T13:52:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2026, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-usually-say-this-number-1-200/1029621/21 "2026-04-28T23:03:33Z")
“One thousand two hundred”. Always. That’s what the number’s called. “Twelve hundred” isn’t a number, it’s a math problem, specifically: “What is twelve times a hundred?” For those of you who say “twelve hundred”, a question: what’s the biggest number you’d count in hundreds? 2,000? 3,000? 10,000? 100,000? Would you say “one thousand hundred”? I’m just trying to understand the logic here. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2026, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-usually-say-this-number-1-200/1029621/22 "2026-04-28T23:39:36Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Would you say “one thousand hundred”? I’m just trying to understand the logic here. The logic is brevity. The shorthand tops out with 99 hundred (9,900). ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2026, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-usually-say-this-number-1-200/1029621/23 "2026-04-29T01:41:05Z")
Do we have to sing the song about the bottles of beer now? ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2026, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-usually-say-this-number-1-200/1029621/24 "2026-04-29T01:55:42Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > “Sixty score”. “Eight and a third gross.” ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2026, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-usually-say-this-number-1-200/1029621/25 "2026-04-29T03:00:20Z")
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(base 1) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2026, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-usually-say-this-number-1-200/1029621/26 "2026-04-29T03:11:07Z")
I say both, but am more likely to say twelve hundred. Probably depends on what units I’m using. ---
**Author:** ![pirviii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pirviii/32/3233_2.png) [@pirviii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pirviii)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2026, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-usually-say-this-number-1-200/1029621/27 "2026-04-29T03:11:25Z")
Twelve hundred and one Drew. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2026, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-usually-say-this-number-1-200/1029621/28 "2026-04-29T03:19:16Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > a question: what’s the biggest number you’d count in hundreds? Nineteen hundred would be my max. But since metrication the count I would rarely go above 12. The logic is that the numbers from 1-12 have distinct names, after that its consolidated into teens and then twenties/thirties etc. But of course, being human and intractably inconsistent, I can’t recall anybody using ten hundred. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2026, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-usually-say-this-number-1-200/1029621/29 "2026-04-29T08:22:21Z")
> [@ricepad](#): > > You want contrary? Ichi-sen, ni-hyaku. Actually, it’s issen nihyaku . 1千2百 いっせんにひゃく One of the oddities of Japanese is that numbers sometimes change pronunciation depending on what follows. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2026, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-usually-say-this-number-1-200/1029621/30 "2026-04-29T08:31:27Z")
Yeah, I forgot about that. My Japanese sux! ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2026, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-usually-say-this-number-1-200/1029621/31 "2026-04-29T09:04:02Z")
Twelve hundred. But if I’m playing horse races in a metric country, and the race is 1200 meters, then I’ll just call it “six furlongs.” ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2026, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-usually-say-this-number-1-200/1029621/32 "2026-04-29T09:30:04Z")
Twelve hundred, unless I want to be precise. All the way up to nineteen hundred, but after that, two thousand, two thousand xxx, etc. It is surely just what you grew up with. Similar discussion about dates: How to say 2010? I always say ‘twenty ten’, but many people say ‘two thousand (and) ten’. ‘2009’ is ‘O’h nine’, because ‘twenty-nine’ would be confusing. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2026, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-usually-say-this-number-1-200/1029621/33 "2026-04-29T09:45:51Z")
In school foot racing format, “one thousand, two hundred metres” In driving or hiking format, “1 point 2 km” ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2026, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-usually-say-this-number-1-200/1029621/34 "2026-04-29T11:22:28Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I’m just trying to understand the logic here. Just in case you are actually curious and not just ranting, it’s called “chunking” and it’s where groups of usually two or three words become associated together and then become a single block. An example is “black and white” which gets mentally processed as a single unit rather than three words. “Hundreds” frequently gets paired with eleven to nineteen and it’s easy to say and process. There aren’t clear rules for when native speakers stop using hundreds but I suspect around 1900. ---
**Author:** ![sunacres](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@sunacres](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunacres)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2026, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-usually-say-this-number-1-200/1029621/35 "2026-04-29T11:40:47Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > it’s called “chunking” Nice insight. I think there’s another concept at play, “roundness.” I’m inclined to say “seventy six hundred” but “seven thousand six hundred forty three.” Back when we used to write checks brevity was a consideration. ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2026, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-usually-say-this-number-1-200/1029621/36 "2026-04-29T11:47:30Z")
eins komma zwei Uh-oh! der Kommissar is nigh Uh-oh! 🎵 Rock the casbah! Rock the casbah! 🎵 ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2026, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-usually-say-this-number-1-200/1029621/37 "2026-04-29T12:03:21Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > There aren’t clear rules for when native speakers stop using hundreds but I suspect around 1900. Just curious, how do you think they will pronounce the year 74 years from now? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2026, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-usually-say-this-number-1-200/1029621/38 "2026-04-29T12:29:41Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > Just in case you are actually curious and not just ranting, I may have been having a mildly autistic moment there, but I was also genuinely curious. Thanks for your answer. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2026, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-usually-say-this-number-1-200/1029621/39 "2026-04-29T12:32:27Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Just curious, how do you think they will pronounce the year 74 years from now? Years are their own thing - even I’ll accept that. Few people would pronounce 2026 “twenty twenty six” unless they were referring to the year. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2026, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-usually-say-this-number-1-200/1029621/40 "2026-04-29T12:49:40Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Years are their own thing - even I’ll accept that. What about prices? I sell and buy pinball machines which are almost always in the four figure range. The price is almost always rounded to and expressed in hundreds unless it lands on a round thousand. An $8,600 machine would be referred to as costing eighty-six hundred by everyone I know within that hobby. Same goes for used cars, cruises, computers, TVs, and anything else selling in the four figure range. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-usually-say-this-number-1-200/1029621.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-usually-say-this-number-1-200/1029621.md?page=3)