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one one-thousandth

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Andrew B

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Dec 18, 2011, 9:08:43 AM12/18/11
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I saw "one one-thousandth" in another newsgroup in a sentence where I'd
have used "one thousandth". Is this a BrE/AmE difference?

Adrian Bailey

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Dec 18, 2011, 10:39:30 AM12/18/11
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"Andrew B" <bul...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:jcks59$ccv$2...@dont-email.me...
>I saw "one one-thousandth" in another newsgroup in a sentence where I'd >
>have used "one thousandth". Is this a BrE/AmE difference?

Speaking as an Englishman, it sounds normal to me, especially followed by
e.g "of an inch".

Adrian


Stan Brown

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Dec 18, 2011, 1:22:05 PM12/18/11
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On Sun, 18 Dec 2011 14:08:43 +0000, Andrew B wrote:
>
> I saw "one one-thousandth" in another newsgroup in a sentence where I'd
> have used "one thousandth". Is this a BrE/AmE difference?

Hard to say -- I can't remember a recent occurrence of either.

I'd say "a thousandth" myself, or in some contexts "one in a
thousand." "If aspirin makes no difference to your chance of a heart
attack, there's only one chance in a thousand of getting the
difference we observed between our control group and our experimental
group."

--
"The difference between the /almost right/ word and the /right/ word
is ... the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning."
--Mark Twain
Stan Brown, Tompkins County, NY, USA http://OakRoadSystems.com

Sproz

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Dec 18, 2011, 2:47:24 PM12/18/11
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On Dec 18, 2:08 pm, Andrew B <bull...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I saw "one one-thousandth" in another newsgroup in a sentence where I'd
> have used "one thousandth". Is this a BrE/AmE difference?

In everyday speech I'd just say "[one/a] thousandth".

If I were reading out this list of fractions: "1/2000, 2/3000,
1/1000", I'd probably end with "one one-thousandth" for the sake of
clarity and consistency.

Mark

Eric Walker

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Dec 18, 2011, 6:34:57 PM12/18/11
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On Sun, 18 Dec 2011 14:08:43 +0000, Andrew B wrote:

> I saw "one one-thousandth" in another newsgroup in a sentence where I'd
> have used "one thousandth". Is this a BrE/AmE difference?

I doubt it. The difference is a subtle conceptual one: "one thousandth"
means a part that is 0.1% of the whole; "one one-thousandth" means a
measurement that is one unit, where the unit is a milli-whatever. My
sense of it is that one would use the former style when speaking of
something that is not a measurement: "It is a mere thousandth the width
of a human hair," while one would use the latter for measurements: "It is
one one-thousandth of a meter in diameter."


--
Cordially,
Eric Walker

Sproz

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Dec 18, 2011, 7:11:36 PM12/18/11
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How would you read my list of fractions, Eric?

Mark

Eric Walker

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Dec 18, 2011, 8:44:08 PM12/18/11
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On Sun, 18 Dec 2011 16:11:36 -0800, Sproz wrote:

[...]

> How would you read my list of fractions, Eric?

1/2000: one two-thousandth

2/3000: two three-thousandths

1/1000: one one-thousandth

Mind, I personally feel uncomfortable with such numeration, and would
prefer to see decimal or scientific renderings:

.0005 or 5 x 10^-4 (or 50 x 10^-3)

6.67 x 10^-4

10^-3 or .001

Better yet is if these are measurements in some system, so that prefixes
like milli or nano or whatever could be used.

Fractions with large denominators just strike me as clunky, especially if
they are not powers of ten.

--
Cordially,
Eric Walker

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