Well - I'm a limey in the US and I've only heard it as 'point'. My guess on the 'dot' thing would be that's how URL's are spoken.

In the US, they are used interchangably with numbers. I would say MICROSOFT DOT COM or I might say VERSION FIVE DOT ONE. I wouldn't say MICROSOFT POINT COM, but I might say VERSION FIVE POINT ONE.

I would also tend to use DOT in reference to computer issues, rather than point which is more of a Math connotation (5 point 1 could be 5 and 1/10 whereas 5 dot 1 is definitely a version).

We just love to jerk the language around and keep it lively.

Dave T2

Point makes sense when it is used as a separator between the integer and fractional parts of a "pure" number, as in 10.5 for "ten and a half". In these cases it is a decimal point. However, when used in other situations such as an IP address or a URL, the "point" connotation is lost and a friendlier term seemed more appropriate. Thus the usage of "dot" as a description of the apperance of the punctuation rather than it's purpose was born.

Where I live, 5.1 is pronounced "cinco punto uno"....but what is really confusing is that over here in Spain, the "." (point) denotes the thousands; they use the "," (comma) to seperate decimals...

So as an afterthought, no, they haven't got it right here at all....

(but there again I knew that all along....)

I’m from the US and I would pronounce version 4.1 as four point one because mathematically it is a fractional version somewhere between 4.0 and 5.0 with a possible 4.2, 4.3, etc.. We even call future versions ‘point’ releases. Surround 5.1 will never have a 5.2, 5.3, etc. it really isn’t a ‘point’ release. It’s the proper name of the technology. I think pronouncing it five dot one makes no mistake that its not a mathematical statement but rather a political statement that somehow sub woofers are inferior to other speakers just because of the highly specialized nature of their work and don’t deserve to be counted as a full 1.0 speaker. It seems to me that this prejudice against sub woofers should not be tolerated and they should be designated s full fledged number immediately! <wink> ;-)

~jr

Definitely dots for URLs, yes indeed.

I think I've also heard simply "Five One", you know, for when you're in a rush to get the job finished :)

I'd never even considered commas coming into the equation ... hmmm

jr - lol

but seriously, the sub channel of encoded 5.1 audio does only use a fraction of the data rate, as it doesn't need to carry the full audio spectrum.

You've got the theory behind where this came from correctly, the 6th channel is a fraction of the full spectrum, therefore it was called Five Point One in the early days. But apparently it doesn't sound technical enough, because it quickly became known as Five Dot One. Then we've got the Seven Dot One crowd that NEVER says Seven Point One. Just connect the Dots, you'll eventually get the Point. Remember that five point one was ubiquitous before _____DOT COM was ubiquitous. Since Seven Dot One came AFTER the whole ____DOT COM business, it's a likely explanation of the shift. BTW, go to a post house or trade show in the US. You'll hear Five DOT One used all the time. Both are 'correct.'
Funny business we're in sometimes.

easier in french, only one word to describe that little "." ;)

Generally, I always say five point one. I've never heard anyone in the State say five dot one. Same goes for software version numbers. Vegas 5.1 would be "five point one" but Vegas 5.a would be "five A".

However, we do say "dot com" and "dot net". It may just be the easiest thing to roll off our tongues considering we use such combinations so often.

My Canadian friends say "point com" and "point net". I'm not sure what the americans south of the U.S. border say.

Rob Mack
San Francisco Bay Area English

"point net", "point com" - that's just sick and twisted... and I'm half Canadian.

Come to think of it, I guess I don't usually hear 5.1 spoken aloud at all so maybe people DO say "five dot one".

Does the base channel of 5.1 really amount to a tenth of the spectrum? I'd assumed it was a just a general way of saying that it wasn't a full spread.

As far as software version numbers goes, I think most sensible people understand that this isn't a mathmatical value. Yet they still say "Point". I don't think people usually insist that the word "Point" must imply a mathematical value. You determine that by context.

I've had this versioning format described as a military way of organizing lists. It has the advantage of making it easy to insert subsections: chaper 5, section 5.1, subsection 5.1.1, etc. I suppose it's also used for legal code.

Thanks to PDB for help with the Spanish pronunciation. I wonder if people use it the same in Mexico as they do in Spain?

Rob Mack

Yes, the particular Canadian friend comes from a fairly sick and twisted line. Lives on white and brown food, doesn't like vegetables unless they've been boiled to a paste. It makes me shudder.

Rob

Well this was a strange thread. :)
In Sweden we use commas in math, like 6,3. When writing large numbers it looks like 100 000, not 100.000. Finally, surround sound is written 5.1 but pronounced five one.
Best/Tommy

For "." in a number the brits say point, as do they here in California, and maybe some say dot (as in dot com) but the correct sientific usage is "decimal" when refering to numbers. But here as we are talking channels and refering to the LFE channel as the one maybe it should be "Five plus One"

>"Five plus One"

Should've been written as Dolby Digital 5+1 then....:)

LOL! I think it is just dependent on where you are. On the East coast you go out and buy sneakers, on the West coast you buy tennis shoes. Some people make movies, others make films and still other make motion pictures.

On the whole I think we here in the states probably just tore apart the Queens English and made it our own, and then broke it down even more into regions and industries. Toss in some ubonics and some splinglish here and there...it is just a mess anymore. My wife came here and spoke English because she studied in Cambridge. I had to explain to her that we don't speak English here, we speak American. She has adapted well, but her teacher in Cambridge asked he why she had to go marry a "bloody American." But my 5 year old loves to tell people she is Swedish-American, although it would be funny (And a bit disturbing) if she told people she was Swedish bloody American. :)

Anyhow - I just call it "Five One" and most of the time I just over state the obvious and say "surround". Way back when films like Saturn 5 and Twinkle, Twinkle, Killer Kane were shown with "Six seperate channels of sound" there was no "Dot" or "points" to be found.

"Now why do they say six seperate channels' when we say 'six individual channels'?"

Lol.

filmy wrote:
"Now why do they say six seperate channels' when we say 'six individual channels'?"

For the same reason Americans say "soda" and Canadians say "pop" :-)


Mike
(a Canadian who says five one;
and "z" is pronounced "zed", not "zee")

>>>For the same reason Americans say "soda" and Canadians say "pop"<<<

Actaully that is another East Cost West Coast thing - East coast is "Can I get a soda?" and West Coast is "Can I get a pop?" I never really got that one.

>>and "z" is pronounced "zed", not "zee"<<

And all the really die hard Rush fans in the states always say "Yeah I really love YYZ (Said "Why Why Zed") because it rocks...eh." ;)

My personal fave to get Canadians to use the word "About" in a sentence.

Yeah, well....here in Utah, you go to get a "coke" and not a "Soda" and not "pop." Even if it's a Sprite, 7Up, Root Beer, or any other soft drink, it's a "Coke." Which is even more ironic since most of the Utah population isn't supposed to drink Coke. But the predominant religion owns the Coke distributorship here. Go figure.
You say "TomAYto, I say ToMAHto, you say PotAYto, I say PoTAHto..."
And dan quayle sez Potatoe.
"Let's call the whole thing off."

>you say PotAYto, I say PoTAHto

You know - I've NEVER heard anyone say "PoTAHto" unless reciting the lyrics to that song.......

I used to say 5 point 1 but as Spot said now all the audiophiles always refer to 7.1 as 7 dot 1. ....
so Now I say 5 dot 1& 7 dot 1 ,period.
or was that 5 period 1?
ahh hell I'm gonna stick to the Victor Borge pronouncation
5 POP (hand hitting open mouth) 1