# Verbal Shorthand for September 11, 2001 **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 11, 2011, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-shorthand-for-september-11-2001/581505 "2011-05-11T12:14:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![carlotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@carlotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlotta)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-shorthand-for-september-11-2001/581505/21 "2011-05-11T23:28:07Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I haven’t heard it called “World Trade Centers”, but I have heard it called “the World Trade Centers bombing”, despite the fact that I believe there were previous ones. “The World Trade Center Bombing” would also be an inappropriate way to refer to the attacks of that day because of the 224 people that died at the Pentagon and in the crash in Pennsylvania, which is probably part of the reason the date has become the definitive way of referring to the event. I prefer “September Eleventh” ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-shorthand-for-september-11-2001/581505/22 "2011-05-12T02:07:11Z")
September eleventh and nine eleven. Never nine one one. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-shorthand-for-september-11-2001/581505/23 "2011-05-12T02:36:39Z")
Strangely enough I say “nine eleven,” even though as a date that would mean the 9th of November here. I think that’s because “9/11” has come to indicate an event, not a date. As in, “9/11 happened on the 11th of September 2001.” ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-shorthand-for-september-11-2001/581505/24 "2011-05-12T03:04:09Z")
I’m really surprised the phrase “nine eleven” grates on so many. Never gave it a second thought. Many Thais now know the English phrase “nine eleven” and sprinkle it in their Thai-language news broadcasts. No mean trick since the V sound does not appear in Thai (it often comes out “nine elewen,” like the old Babwa Wawa bit on Saturday Night Live). ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-shorthand-for-september-11-2001/581505/25 "2011-05-12T03:16:12Z")
September 11. 9/11 just bugs me, because that date format is wrong and makes me think of the Ninth of November. But that’s probably an argument for the minirants thread. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-shorthand-for-september-11-2001/581505/26 "2011-05-12T03:37:16Z")
> [@Sierra\_Indigo](#): > > September 11. 9/11 just bugs me, because that date format is wrong and makes me think of the Ninth of November. But that’s probably an argument for the minirants thread. You guys were smooth to have your 2005 bombings on July 7. The 7/7 bombings. However, you can’t fool me. I always know you have the order wrong, that the first seven is the day and the second seven the month and it irks me no end. I end up spending the rest of the day mumbling to myself off in the corner. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-shorthand-for-september-11-2001/581505/27 "2011-05-12T03:58:01Z")
I’ve posted this before, but the important thing to me, given that my mother is from Tennessee is that all the news was unreal to me, just a bunch of people on TV, Until some Emergency Medical guys from Tennessee drove their truck up to New York to help, and spoke to a reporter on CNN, spoke in my Mother Tongue, an accent from real people, and it became real, and I began to weep. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-shorthand-for-september-11-2001/581505/28 "2011-05-12T04:53:43Z")
I mostly say nine eleven. There are also times when I say September 11th as in “I fly the flag on holidays and September 11th”. What does bother me is when (usually) newscasters say “the events” of nine eleven. It makes them sound like PC assholes trying to avoid the words _terrorist attacks_ so as not to offend anyone. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-shorthand-for-september-11-2001/581505/29 "2011-05-12T04:56:58Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > I mostly say nine eleven. There are also times when I say September 11th as in “I fly the flag on holidays and September 11th”. > What does bother me is when (usually) newscasters say “the events” of nine eleven. It makes them sound like PC assholes trying to avoid the words _terrorist attacks_ so as not to offend anyone. Really?? I say that sometimes. I took it as to mean “the specific things on 9/11 that impacted such and such” instead of a general _9/11, the newest unofficial memorial day_. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-shorthand-for-september-11-2001/581505/30 "2011-05-12T04:58:20Z")
> [@Sierra\_Indigo](#): > > September 11. 9/11 just bugs me, because that date format is wrong and makes me think of the Ninth of November. But that’s probably an argument for the minirants thread. 🙂 I write things like 19 March, but when I see 3/9, I know it’s March 9th. 9/11 has just stuck in my head the way a picture would be. ---
**Author:** ![ColdPhoenix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@ColdPhoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColdPhoenix)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-shorthand-for-september-11-2001/581505/31 "2011-05-12T11:14:04Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > None of the above. I say “eleventh of September”. Same here. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-shorthand-for-september-11-2001/581505/32 "2011-05-12T11:34:13Z")
I don’t say either. I say the attacks on september eleventh in a probably useless attempt to keep the day itself special for people who have birthdays and wedding anniversaries on that day. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-shorthand-for-september-11-2001/581505.md?page=1)