Your Letters
15:20 UK time, Wednesday, 10 June 2009
Regarding the in the English language. Putting considerations of the validity of "Web 2.0" as the millionth word aside, GLM state that the word "N00b" (I've always preferred the spelling "Newb") is the "only mainstream English word that contains within itself two numerals". Presumably, these two numerals are the two 0s used to represent the Os (I did a semester in leetspeak studies one Summer). However, I seem to remember reading about another word, recently included in the list of English words that also has "two numerals within itself", that word being "Web 2.0", mentioned at the top of the story.
James, Stirling, Scotland, United Kingdom
Right, which was the word? Web, two, dot or zero?
Steve, Dunfermline, Scotland
Re David Bain's Brain Strain. Thank you David. After reading this I turned vegetarian. Until I realised the untold harm I was causing those poor vegetables. Now I won't even drink water for fear of killing those defenceless microbes.
Johnny, York, UK
I was very pleased to get 5 out of 7 on the today, although I'm not sure why I got question 5 wrong... I had assumed that giving the choices of "1. Clints and grikes", "2. Clints and grikes" and "3. Clints and grikes" was a pithy comment on the basic nature of today's exams, until I chose number 3 and found it to be "WRONG! It's clints and grikes." Retrying showed that the correct answer was number 1. No wonder I found geography so difficult at school - there's a subtlety in it that I had not fully appreciated.
Jo, London
Monitor note: Due to a technical error this question did indeed feature the phrase "clints and grikes" three times. This has now been corrected.
- is that official TfL advice?
Lee, Birmingham
Re Paper Monitor: "Sigh. Only the most V of VIPs can travel at speed around a busy urban centre."
I was going to point out that, as VIP stands for Very Important Person you should have said, "The most I of VIPs ...", then realised how stupid it would sound. Oh, you cosmopoles! You may whinge when you have to walk unexpectedly to work, but you do have a way with words.
Fee Lock, Hastings, East Sussex
Monitor note: Thank you.
US researcher Christopher Clark claims - simply by using different units for the compared meaurements. Hence three inches would be longer than two miles, 5g heavier than 2lb, because the numbers are bigger. Perhaps we should name such comparisons "Berkleyisms" in honour of his college, if only we could think of a suitable abbreviation for the term.
Steve Taylor, Liverpool, UK
The 
