c4countdown

Do you say "plus" or "add" or "and"?
Do you say "take" or "minus" or "subtract"?
Why does it vary? Is it a generational thing? Or geographical?
Does it matter?

Plus and minus for me. It doesn't matter to me if others use different terms, though, apart from 'by' for 'times': wtf??
Dunno if it's generational, but I was at school in the 1960s and 70s, both in Lancashire and in Essex, if that helps your research!

Come back Derek and create one of your sadly missed polls.
BTW its plus and minus for me.

Interesting

I use all of them with no consistency or logical method and often change which type I'm using midway through a sum.

Julie T wrote:Plus and minus for me. It doesn't matter to me if others use different terms, though, apart from 'by' for 'times': wtf??
Dunno if it's generational, but I was at school in the 1960s and 70s, both in Lancashire and in Essex, if that helps your research!

I'm 100% with you on "by". In 1970s Universify of Warwick speak, "by" meant "divided by", as in 90 degrees equals pi by 2 radians.

I think I'm pretty consistent in keeping the distinction between 4 minus 3, take 3 from 4. Just as I'd always multiply 3 by 4.

My most frequent expression mid-sum is pretty much "um... fuck..."
After that it really can be anything, and with varied results.

Lesley Hines wrote:My most frequent expression mid-sum is pretty much "um... fuck..."
After that it really can be anything, and with varied results.

lol.

Julie T wrote:It doesn't matter to me if others use different terms, though, apart from 'by' for 'times': wtf??

I don't say it myself, but when people use 'by' for times I think of areas, e.g. 7 by 12 meaning 7 x 12, so it seems pretty reasonable to me (although it does have a slightly uneducated feel to it).

Interestingly, ODE doesn't give MINUS as a verb, so where "I'm adding these two numbers together" is acceptable, "I'm minusing these two numbers" is invalid.

Kirk Bevins wrote:Interestingly, ODE doesn't give MINUS as a verb, so where "I'm adding these two numbers together" is acceptable, "I'm minusing these two numbers" is invalid.

Plussing, the antonym of minusing, isn't in, either. The antonym of adding is subtracting. And the syntax changes for subtracting because you must specify which number is subtracted from which (subtraction is not commutative).

Alec Rivers wrote: Plussing, the antonym of minusing, isn't in, either.

Good point. I think plussing should be in too.

Kirk Bevins wrote:Good point. I think plussing should be in too.

Aaaaarghh!

Alec Rivers wrote:

Kirk Bevins wrote:Good point. I think plussing should be in too.

Aaaaarghh!

Not in.

Influenced by the sentence construction surely, rather than geographical or generational influence
'1 plus 1 is 2, and then you need to add that to the 10' - the 'plus' sounds fine replaced with either 'and' or 'add' but only the 'add' works in the second bit.

Along similar lines....
'They won 1 - 0', I'd pronounce the 0 as nil.
'10 - 10' = 0, I'd pronounce it as zero
'Tel no. 01227.....' I'd pronounce that 'oh'
'Add 0 to times it by 10' I'd probably pronounce that one 'nought'

Alec Rivers wrote:

Kirk Bevins wrote:Interestingly, ODE doesn't give MINUS as a verb, so where "I'm adding these two numbers together" is acceptable, "I'm minusing these two numbers" is invalid.

Plussing, the antonym of minusing, isn't in, either. The antonym of adding is subtracting. And the syntax changes for subtracting because you must specify which number is subtracted from which (subtraction is not commutative).

I'm nonplussed.