"Loony Tune" wrote in message
...

I'm surprised they haven't changed the number for their emergency services
as a 'mark of respect'

Funny you should say that. It was my first thought when I heard people
referring to the Twin Towers attacks as "9/11".

Martin Underwood wrote:
"Loony Tune" wrote in message
...

I'm surprised they haven't changed the number for their emergency services
as a 'mark of respect'


Funny you should say that. It was my first thought when I heard people
referring to the Twin Towers attacks as "9/11".


Though, to be fair, the emergency services number is always read as
"nine-one-one", never as "nine-eleven".

--

Stephen

Comedy series about three divorcees who share a one-room apartment
on the Upper East Side. One has a lisp, one has an accordion, and
one has an affair with the script editor and most of the one-liners.

In article ,
(Stephen Farrow) wrote:

Martin Underwood wrote:
"Loony Tune" wrote in message
...

I'm surprised they haven't changed the number for their emergency
services as a 'mark of respect'

Funny you should say that. It was my first thought when I heard
people referring to the Twin Towers attacks as "9/11".

Though, to be fair, the emergency services number is always read as
"nine-one-one", never as "nine-eleven".

Not that I recall (from before 2001).

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Colin Rosenstiel wrote:
In article ,
(Stephen Farrow) wrote:


Martin Underwood wrote:

"Loony Tune" wrote in message
...


I'm surprised they haven't changed the number for their emergency
services as a 'mark of respect'

Funny you should say that. It was my first thought when I heard
people referring to the Twin Towers attacks as "9/11".

Though, to be fair, the emergency services number is always read as
"nine-one-one", never as "nine-eleven".


Not that I recall (from before 2001).

Really? I've been living in North America since 1998 - admittedly in Canada,
though the emergency number is the same here (and I travel south to the USA
fairly frequently) - and lived in New York State for a few months in 1993, and
I've *never* heard anybody read the number as "nine eleven".

--

Stephen

Mr. James: Be careful, Beth, because the stock market can be a cruel mistress.
Beth: Well, so can I, but that's not how I want to make my money any more.

In article ,
(Stephen Farrow) wrote:

Colin Rosenstiel wrote:
In article ,
(Stephen Farrow) wrote:

Martin Underwood wrote:

"Loony Tune" wrote in message
...


I'm surprised they haven't changed the number for their emergency
services as a 'mark of respect'

Funny you should say that. It was my first thought when I heard
people referring to the Twin Towers attacks as "9/11".

Though, to be fair, the emergency services number is always read as
"nine-one-one", never as "nine-eleven".

Not that I recall (from before 2001).

Really? I've been living in North America since 1998 - admittedly in
Canada, though the emergency number is the same here (and I travel
south to the USA fairly frequently) - and lived in New York State for a
few months in 1993, and I've *never* heard anybody read the number as
"nine eleven".

So my US citizen brother confirms today. So why the 9/11 epithet for the
bombing of the twin towers? I remember being today of the link with the US
emergency number at the time too.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Martin Underwood:
It was my first thought when I heard people referring to the
Twin Towers attacks as "9/11".

Stephen Farrow:
Though, to be fair, the emergency services number is always read as
"nine-one-one", never as "nine-eleven".

Colin Rosenstiel:
So my US citizen brother confirms today. So why the 9/11 epithet for the
bombing of the twin towers? ...

"9/11" properly refers to the entire attack, not just that part of it:
the hijacking of four planes, the destruction of the World Trade Center,
the plane crashed into the Pentagon, and the plan to similarly attack
another Washington site (probably the Capitol), which was thwarted.

People, especially politicians, needed a way to refer inclusively to
all parts of the attack. The attack on the WTC was clearly the most
desctructive part, but anyone in public life outside of New York who
referred only to that, the way Martin and Colin did above, would risk
being seen as slighting the other victims. (Suppose people came to
refer to this month's attacks as "the Tube bombs" -- wouldn't that
make you cringe if someone close to you was on that #30 bus?)

But it was hard to find a terse expression that was also as inclusive
as desired. What the politicians quickly settled on was the phrase
"the events of September 11"; but that's still rather unwieldy. Since
the resemblance of the date 9/11 to the phone number 911 had already
been widely noted, and yet their pronunciation was different, the
shortening to "9/11" was a very natural thing.
--
Mark Brader | "Follow my posts and choose the opposite
| of what I use. That generally works here."
Toronto | --Tony Cooper

My text in this article is in the public domain.

I'd heard some places did refer to 911 as "nine-eleven" when the
number first came into use, until they started getting complaints from
people who couldn't find the "eleven" button on their 'phone. Since
then, it's been very explicitly "nine-one-one". We here is the US got
911 as a single emergency number in the late 60's, early 70's.

73, doug


(Colin Rosenstiel) writes:

In article ,
(Stephen Farrow) wrote:

Martin Underwood wrote:
"Loony Tune" wrote in message
...

I'm surprised they haven't changed the number for their emergency
services as a 'mark of respect'

Funny you should say that. It was my first thought when I heard
people referring to the Twin Towers attacks as "9/11".

Though, to be fair, the emergency services number is always read as
"nine-one-one", never as "nine-eleven".

Not that I recall (from before 2001).

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Doug Faunt N6TQS +1-510-655-8604 wrote:
I'd heard some places did refer to 911 as "nine-eleven" when the
number first came into use, until they started getting complaints from
people who couldn't find the "eleven" button on their 'phone. Since
then, it's been very explicitly "nine-one-one". We here is the US got
911 as a single emergency number in the late 60's, early 70's.

Full history of 911 and 999 emergency phone service is on webpage
http://www.911dispatch.com/911_file/history/911history.html
--
Bruce Fletcher
Stronsay, Orkney
www.stronsay.co.uk/claremont

Doug Faunt N6TQS +1-510-655-8604 wrote:
I'd heard some places did refer to 911 as "nine-eleven" when the
number first came into use, until they started getting complaints from
people who couldn't find the "eleven" button on their 'phone.

Which is why Americans are held in the esteem that they are.


Since then, it's been very explicitly "nine-one-one". We here is the US
got
911 as a single emergency number in the late 60's, early 70's.

Brimstone wrote:
Doug Faunt N6TQS +1-510-655-8604 wrote:

I'd heard some places did refer to 911 as "nine-eleven" when the
number first came into use, until they started getting complaints from
people who couldn't find the "eleven" button on their 'phone.


Which is why Americans are held in the esteem that they are.

Probably the same people who complained that they could not find the
"any" key on their computer keyboard.
(press any key to continue)
--
Bruce Fletcher
Stronsay, Orkney
www.stronsay.co.uk/claremont