Re: [math-fun] Numerical nerdism
Every real nerd knows that a number with a zero in the front must be in octal, so your number is bogus. Real nerds will never agree with "Newer languages have been abandoning the prefix 0, as decimal numbers are often represented with leading zeroes" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octal At 05:12 PM 3/10/2015, James Propp wrote:
Or "My zip code at MIT is two thousand one hundred and twenty nine ... with a zero in the front."
I first heard the word "nerd" my freshman year at MIT, and was told it was spelled "gnurd". Did it actually originate at MIT? 'Cause I never heard it anywhere else for quite a few years. --Dan
On Mar 10, 2015, at 6:07 PM, Henry Baker <hbaker1@pipeline.com> wrote:
Every real nerd knows . . .
HoToGAMIT 1974 gives the primary spelling as "nurd", but adds "Also spelled nerd, gnurd.". On Tue, Mar 10, 2015 at 9:19 PM, Dan Asimov <asimov@msri.org> wrote:
I first heard the word "nerd" my freshman year at MIT, and was told it was spelled "gnurd".
Did it actually originate at MIT? 'Cause I never heard it anywhere else for quite a few years.
--Dan
On Mar 10, 2015, at 6:07 PM, Henry Baker <hbaker1@pipeline.com> wrote:
Every real nerd knows . . .
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On 2015-03-10 21:19, Dan Asimov wrote:
I first heard the word "nerd" my freshman year at MIT, and was told it was spelled "gnurd".
When I heard the word at MIT it was already popular from (at least) "Happy Days". There's a web-site with more on the origins of nerd/nurd/gnurd at http://www.eldacur.com/~brons/NerdCorner/nerd.html Wikipedia also has etymological conjectures. But it seems to date from the 50's. It is hard to tell from these sources when "nerd" evolved from simply meaning "square", "unhip" or "dorky" to having the connotations we (well, some of us) take pride in. If we believe these sources, then an MIT origin of the latter meaning is possible, but seems very unlikely for the original source of "nerd" as uncool.
Did it actually originate at MIT? 'Cause I never heard it anywhere else for quite a few years.
--Dan
On Mar 10, 2015, at 6:07 PM, Henry Baker <hbaker1@pipeline.com> wrote:
Every real nerd knows . . .
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The Car Talk guys would regularly give out the show's phone number broken in unconventional places, i.e. "Call us at 1-888-CAR-TALK, that's eighteen, eight-eight, twenty-two, seventy-eight, two-fifty-five" or "one-triple-8-double-2-single-7-8-2-double-5" --Michael On Tue, Mar 10, 2015 at 9:07 PM, Henry Baker <hbaker1@pipeline.com> wrote:
Every real nerd knows that a number with a zero in the front must be in octal, so your number is bogus.
Real nerds will never agree with "Newer languages have been abandoning the prefix 0, as decimal numbers are often represented with leading zeroes"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octal
At 05:12 PM 3/10/2015, James Propp wrote:
Or "My zip code at MIT is two thousand one hundred and twenty nine ... with a zero in the front."
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-- Forewarned is worth an octopus in the bush.
And they went to MIT. Case closed. Jim On Tue, Mar 10, 2015 at 9:26 PM, Michael Kleber <michael.kleber@gmail.com> wrote:
The Car Talk guys would regularly give out the show's phone number broken in unconventional places, i.e. "Call us at 1-888-CAR-TALK, that's eighteen, eight-eight, twenty-two, seventy-eight, two-fifty-five" or "one-triple-8-double-2-single-7-8-2-double-5"
--Michael
On Tue, Mar 10, 2015 at 9:07 PM, Henry Baker <hbaker1@pipeline.com> wrote:
Every real nerd knows that a number with a zero in the front must be in octal, so your number is bogus.
Real nerds will never agree with "Newer languages have been abandoning the prefix 0, as decimal numbers are often represented with leading zeroes"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octal
At 05:12 PM 3/10/2015, James Propp wrote:
Or "My zip code at MIT is two thousand one hundred and twenty nine ... with a zero in the front."
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-- Forewarned is worth an octopus in the bush.
Has MIT changed its zipcode? I had 02139 burned into ram, back when we wrote physical letters. The literal phone number thing appeared in Reader's Digest when I was a kid: Seven digit phone numbers used to be two letters and five digits, with a mnemonic for the two letters. Often the mnemonic would also have the third letter match the lead digit: My phone number at one time was Whitehall 3-1293, and nearby folks had a Whitehall 4 prefix. The phone company introduced all-digit phone numbers around the same time as they brought in area codes for user-dialed long distance. A lot of people were unhappy losing the alpha mnemonics, and the RD suggested harassing operators with "could I please have three billion, one hundred twenty nine million, four hundred thirty one thousand, two hundred ninety three?" I recall hearing about new slang including "gnurd" in 1964, second hand, perhaps from the Johnny Carson TV show. I though it was a Brit import. There were several other (at the time) derogatory terms, maybe including "geek". Rich ------------ Quoting James Propp <jamespropp@gmail.com>:
And they went to MIT. Case closed.
Jim
On Tue, Mar 10, 2015 at 9:26 PM, Michael Kleber <michael.kleber@gmail.com> wrote:
The Car Talk guys would regularly give out the show's phone number broken in unconventional places, i.e. "Call us at 1-888-CAR-TALK, that's eighteen, eight-eight, twenty-two, seventy-eight, two-fifty-five" or "one-triple-8-double-2-single-7-8-2-double-5"
--Michael
On Tue, Mar 10, 2015 at 9:07 PM, Henry Baker <hbaker1@pipeline.com> wrote:
Every real nerd knows that a number with a zero in the front must be in octal, so your number is bogus.
Real nerds will never agree with "Newer languages have been abandoning the prefix 0, as decimal numbers are often represented with leading zeroes"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octal
At 05:12 PM 3/10/2015, James Propp wrote:
Or "My zip code at MIT is two thousand one hundred and twenty nine ... with a zero in the front."
_______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun
-- Forewarned is worth an octopus in the bush.
_______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun
A lot of people were unhappy losing the alpha mnemonics, and the RD
Who are the RD?
suggested harassing operators with "could I please have three billion, one hundred twenty nine million, four hundred thirty one thousand, two hundred ninety three?"
That is better than what I head which is that something called the Anti-Digit Dialing League would ask for the Pentagon as Warmonger 6 ... rather than Warfield 6, which it had been. I have never checked any of this. I did have direct experience in the late eighties of giving an operator a number as a pure nemonic, because that was how I knew it, and having her tell me it wasn't a phone number. I attributed it to stupidity, not policy. Whit
RD = Reader's Digest. They published (condensed) articles from other magazines. I don't know if they are still around. They were a big deal in the 1950s. --Rich ------ Quoting Whitfield Diffie <whitfield.diffie@gmail.com>:
A lot of people were unhappy losing the alpha mnemonics, and the RD
Who are the RD?
suggested harassing operators with "could I please have three billion, one hundred twenty nine million, four hundred thirty one thousand, two hundred ninety three?"
That is better than what I head which is that something called the Anti-Digit Dialing League would ask for the Pentagon as Warmonger 6 ... rather than Warfield 6, which it had been. I have never checked any of this.
I did have direct experience in the late eighties of giving an operator a number as a pure nemonic, because that was how I knew it, and having her tell me it wasn't a phone number. I attributed it to stupidity, not policy.
Whit
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They're still around. --Dan
On Mar 10, 2015, at 11:45 PM, rcs@xmission.com wrote:
RD = Reader's Digest. They published (condensed) articles from other magazines. I don't know if they are still around. They were a big deal in the 1950s. --Rich
participants (8)
-
Allan Wechsler -
Dan Asimov -
Henry Baker -
James Propp -
Michael Greenwald -
Michael Kleber -
rcs＠xmission.com -
Whitfield Diffie