# The Rules for Writing Roman Numerals **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 26, 2012, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-writing-roman-numerals/645205 "2012-12-26T18:54:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-writing-roman-numerals/645205/21 "2012-12-27T17:39:02Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > What I have always wondered is how did they say these numbers, “From the Coliseum its **Lions** Ex Ex Ex Vee Eye Eye Eye, **Christians** Vee Eye Eye?” They’d never have that scoreline, because the Christians never figured out how to eat lions. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-writing-roman-numerals/645205/22 "2012-12-27T22:50:40Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > They’d never have that scoreline, because the Christians never figured out how to eat lions. 😃 My dear grandmother, may she rest in peace, had a photo album of her and Grandpa’s trip to Europe. One of her treasured snapshots was a pic of some feral cats who had taken up residence in the ruins of the Coliseum. There under the photo she had written the caption: Lions 1 Christians 0 * * * Grandma always had a sense of humor. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-writing-roman-numerals/645205/23 "2012-12-28T05:54:26Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > The National Football League in the United States uses Roman numerals instead of Arabic numbers or years to denote its Super Bowl championship game. Super Bowl L (50) is scheduled to take place in 2016, and there have been [calls](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204652904577197312698087518.html) to change the name to “Super Bowl 50” because of the negative connotations of the letter “L”, frequently held up on one’s forehead in the U.S. as if to say, “Loooooser!” Not being much of a football fan I never thought of this, but yeah, I can almost guarantee you they’ll call it Super Bowl 50. Along with the whole ‘loser’ thing, the phrase _Super Bowl **el** _ just sounds awkward and stupid! I remember for the thirtieth one they successfully avoided any ‘porn’ connotation with ‘XXX’ but instead capitalized on the whole _‘to the extreme, extra-extra-extra large’_ thing! ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-writing-roman-numerals/645205/24 "2012-12-28T12:12:52Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > Not being much of a football fan I never thought of this, but yeah, I can almost guarantee you they’ll call it Super Bowl 50. Along with the whole ‘loser’ thing, the phrase _Super Bowl **el** _ just sounds awkward and stupid! I remember for the thirtieth one they successfully avoided any ‘porn’ connotation with ‘XXX’ but instead capitalized on the whole _‘to the extreme, extra-extra-extra large’_ thing! Surely they don’t call Super Bowl XLVII “Super Bowl ex ell vee eye eye”, though, do they? Isn’t it “Super Bowl Forty Seven”? So why would anyone call it “Super Bowl ell”? ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-writing-roman-numerals/645205/25 "2012-12-28T15:03:16Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > Not being much of a football fan I never thought of this, but yeah, I can almost guarantee you they’ll call it Super Bowl 50. Along with the whole ‘loser’ thing, the phrase _Super Bowl **el** _ just sounds awkward and stupid! I remember for the thirtieth one they successfully avoided any ‘porn’ connotation with ‘XXX’ but instead capitalized on the whole _‘to the extreme, extra-extra-extra large’_ thing! I’m thinking they’ll go with Super Bowl XXXXX. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-writing-roman-numerals/645205/26 "2012-12-28T15:31:43Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Surely they don’t call Super Bowl XLVII “Super Bowl ex ell vee eye eye”, though, do they? No. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-writing-roman-numerals/645205/27 "2012-12-28T16:48:52Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > No. So why is Super Bowl L a problem? It’ll be spelt that way, but pronounced [del]Throatwobbler Mangrove[/del] Super Bowl Fifty. I can’t believe the “loser” connotation is that prevalent. Just make a big thing of it… Super Bowl 50… one L of a contest. I’ll give 'em that slogan for free. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-writing-roman-numerals/645205/28 "2012-12-28T18:19:01Z")
It’s not a problem because hardly anybody - including American football fans - even knows which Super Bowl we’re on now anyway. If anything, the only issue might be that people mistake the L for something other than the Roman numeral, as in “hey, why is there an L after Super Bowl on this T-shirt?” I suspect it was just a slow news day at the WSJ. If anything, I expect they’ll just start naming Super Bowls after the years they occur in, like every other fucking sport. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-writing-roman-numerals/645205/29 "2012-12-28T23:01:48Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > I’m thinking they’ll go with Super Bowl XXXXX. Much more awesome than Super Bowl L. Marketing saves the day! ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-writing-roman-numerals/645205/30 "2012-12-28T23:14:11Z")
I remember during Super Bowl XL, it was often referred to as “Super Bowl Extra Large.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2012, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-writing-roman-numerals/645205/31 "2012-12-29T00:04:51Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > Much more awesome than Super Bowl L. Marketing saves the day! I’ll be expecting my royalty check from the NFL. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2012, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-writing-roman-numerals/645205/32 "2012-12-29T06:24:25Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > So why is Super Bowl L a problem? It’ll be spelt that way, but pronounced [del]Throatwobbler Mangrove[/del] Super Bowl Fifty. > > I can’t believe the “loser” connotation is that prevalent. Just make a big thing of it… Super Bowl 50… one L of a contest. I’ll give 'em that slogan for free. Well, football fans are not known for their, subtlety. Just the visual appearance of the phrase\*\* Super Bowl L\*\* is also awkward and odd looking. Where as: \*\*\*Super Bowl \*_ **50** _ looks awesome! 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-writing-roman-numerals/645205.md?page=1)