2001-12-17 Funny you mention that about the plural in English. Whenever I'm at a a cash regisiter operated by a black person, they never seem to use plurals with dollars or cents either.
They say four dollar and thirty-two cent. No plural. I always thought that odd. John ----- Original Message ----- From: "James R. Frysinger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, 2001-12-16 20:05 Subject: [USMA:16664] The euro and the cent > I posted something about this some time ago, but perhaps it bears > repeating. The official guide to the spelling of the euro and the cent > in the official languages of euroland is available online and the > information is somewhat surprising to me. > > For example, in English one apparently would say "one euro, one hundred > euro, one cent, one hundred cent". Likewise, one would say "the euro, > the many euro, the cent, the many cent". In otherwords, the plural form > does not use the "s" ending one would normally expect in English. Indeed > there is even a footnote that states: > This spelling without an "s" may be seen as departing > from usual English practice for currencies. > So, > "The euro is equal to 100 cent." > "The price for this postcard is 35 cent." > "The cent is one-hundredth of a euro." > "The cent in my pocket jingle against each other." > > In French, the plurals seem to be formed normally, whether in quantities > or with the definite article. Likewise in Danish but not in German; > Dutch seems to differ on practice for quantities as compared to use with > the definite article. Normally in Spanish and Portugese, but not in > Italian. Very strange! I wonder if practice on the street will actually > abide by this practice. The argument seems to parallel the arguments > sometimes heard about forming plurals of SI units. > > The home page for the euro is at > http://europa.eu.int/euro/html/entry.html > and if one selects "One Currency for Europe" (the entry point) a menu > page is presented. On this page, select "Spelling-Sign-Glossary" and a > shorter menu page is presented. On this page, select "Spelling of the > words "euro" and "cent" in the official Community languages - to be > used when drawing up Community Legislative acts" and a pdf file opens. > Apparently this file cannot be downloaded or, upon opening, saved to > file. > > Jim > > -- > Metric Methods(SM) "Don't be late to metricate!" > James R. Frysinger, CAMS http://www.metricmethods.com/ > 10 Captiva Row e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Charleston, SC 29407 phone/FAX: 843.225.6789 >
