Sunday, October 12, 2008

The Number Se7en

File this one under Stupid Things That Don't Matter But Bother Me Anyway.

At work I've noticed that many people write the number seven the European way, with the horizontal slash through it. I find this really irritating. I understand that there's a practical purpose for writing a 7 that way, which is to differentiate between an old-school 1 numeral. But since very few people in America write a 1 the way a typewriter does, I find the European 7 to be completely unnecessary (and dare I say, unpatriotic?). At the same time, I recognize that it's also completely harmless, and I know this is a ridiculous thing to be writing about. But I feel compelled nonetheless.

I think what bothers me is the feeling that most people are writing the European 7 to be trendy, although they've most certainly had no level of conscious thought about it like I have. But, if that's truly the way you were taught to write a 7, maybe I can forgive you.

4 comments:

holtzab said...

That's the way I write them. I often write my 1's the way a typewriter would. Suck on that, big guy.

Ken said...

Gay.

Anomx said...

In the 4th grade I had an awesome (read horrible) math teacher that forced all of us to write it that way. She would actually mark a problem incorrect if we didn't use it. So yeah, thanks to my Nazi elementary school teacher I am forever condemned to write my 7's with a line through the center.

Ken said...

Wow—total Nazi. Just goes to show that at a young age, teachers can instill anything they want—the most arbitrary things—and punish you for them.