# Re: Thanks Ruby Quiz!

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-thanks-ruby-quiz/60180>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [May 10, 2006, 10:51pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-thanks-ruby-quiz/60180 "2006-05-10T22:51:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![DebaunS\_Steve\_SSemi](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/d78d45/32.png) [@DebaunS\_Steve\_SSemi](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/DebaunS_Steve_SSemi)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 10:51pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-thanks-ruby-quiz/60180/1 "2006-05-10T22:51:32Z")

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123.to\_slang == “a franklin, a jackson, three washingtons, and some  
jingle”

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**Author:** ![DebaunS\_Steve\_SSemi](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/d78d45/32.png) [@DebaunS\_Steve\_SSemi](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/DebaunS_Steve_SSemi)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 10:54pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-thanks-ruby-quiz/60180/2 "2006-05-10T22:54:36Z")

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It appears I opened a can of worms. I see why this was chosen as a ruby  
quiz. It seems to elicit a lot of varying responses. Do you guys think  
that the and should be removed except for floats?

Charlie B.  
[www.recentrambles.com](http://www.recentrambles.com)

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**Author:** ![DebaunS\_Steve\_SSemi](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/d78d45/32.png) [@DebaunS\_Steve\_SSemi](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/DebaunS_Steve_SSemi)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 11:28pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-thanks-ruby-quiz/60180/3 "2006-05-10T23:28:43Z")

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Charlie B. wrote:

> Do you guys think that the and should be removed except for floats?

No.

Google shows about 54,200 hits on “one hundred and twenty three”  
but only about 42,900 on “one hundred twenty three.”

I can’t imagine the justification for why “and” is only proper for  
floats. “One hundred and twenty three” is idiomatic English, both in the  
US and UK.

“In the year of our Lord, Seventeen Hundred and Seventy Six.”

“Four score and seven years ago.”

“Four and twenty blackbirds.”

Just because you can also say “seventeen hundred seventy six,” “one  
thousand seven hundred seventy six,” “eighty seven” and “twenty four”  
doesn’t make the former improper.

–

Ray

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**Author:** ![DebaunS\_Steve\_SSemi](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/d78d45/32.png) [@DebaunS\_Steve\_SSemi](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/DebaunS_Steve_SSemi)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 11:41pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-thanks-ruby-quiz/60180/4 "2006-05-10T23:41:15Z")

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Ray B. wrote:

> floats. “One hundred and twenty three” is idiomatic English, both in  
> doesn’t make the former improper.

My original point was not that serious…it can be left as-is without a  
problem.

For more information than anyone probably needs:

> **[Comparison of American and British English](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_differences#Numbers)**
>
> The English language was introduced to the Americas by British colonisation, beginning in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The language also spread to numerous other parts of the world as a result of British trade and colonisation and the spread of the former British Empire, which, by 1921, included 470–570 million people, about a quarter of the world's population. Written forms of British and American English as found in newspapers and textbooks vary little in their essential features, ...

-Justin

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**Author:** ![DebaunS\_Steve\_SSemi](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/d78d45/32.png) [@DebaunS\_Steve\_SSemi](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/DebaunS_Steve_SSemi)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2006, 1:31am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-thanks-ruby-quiz/60180/5 "2006-05-11T01:31:39Z")

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Charlie B. wrote:

> It appears I opened a can of worms. I see why this was chosen as a ruby  
> quiz. It seems to elicit a lot of varying responses. Do you guys think  
> that the and should be removed except for floats?

When I was a kid, teachers laid heavy stress on this for some reason.

It was treated as a moral obligation, a physical law, and a  
partiotic duty all wrapped up in one.

However, I’ve since heard that it’s probably an American thing.

Hal