Examples:

  • One oh two Main Street
  • Four oh seven PM
  • Biology one oh one
  • Eight six seven, five three oh nine
  • Four oh four: Not found

Not just a US thing, so I hope this is okay to ask here. I have just never encountered this is any language other than English. Is it simply that O and 0 look similar, and that “oh” has fewer syllables than “zero”? I have not heard a good explanation from coworkers who I’ve asked.

  • Tanis Nikana
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    3 hours ago

    Yeah, but it just gets shortened to 零, れい, one syllable.

    Edit: I would much rather say れい than ゼロ, just slides off the tongue faster.

    • Drusas
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      fedilink
      15 hours ago

      Rei and maru are not related to one another. Rei is used a lot less frequently than you would think.

      • Tanis Nikana
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        English
        33 hours ago

        Has my Japanese gotten that bad that I’m being corrected on that too? That was my first language.

        sigh

        • megane-kun
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          English
          147 minutes ago

          Oh! A native speaker! I’ll take this opportunity to ask: Is there a distinction between 零 and ゼロ or is it more or less interchangeable?