Re: ngettext() not enough?

[John.Cowan]

Bob Proulx scripsit:
> John.Cowan wrote:
> > Andreas Schwab scripsit:
> > > IMHO (I'm not a native speaker) "1.0 degrees" is correct if you pronounce
> > > it like "one point zero degrees", just like you would say "zero degrees",
> > > not "zero degree".
> 
> Agreed.
> 
> > That's seductive but problematic: by the same token, we would say
> > "zero point one degree".  ...
> 
> Actually, no, in American English at least it would still be "zero
> point one degrees".

Absolutely; I didn't express myself too well.  I'm saying that if someone says
"one point zero degrees" *because* he says "zero degrees", i.e. because the
word "zero" precedes the word "degree(s)", then I would expect that
*by the same token* they would say "zero point one degree" -- which is of course
not the case.

I continue to think "one point zero degrees" unacceptable if not outright
ungrammatical, though obviously native speakers don't all agree on this point.

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A few times, I did some exuberant stomping about,       John Cowan
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