klwilliams (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
klwilliams) wrote2008-02-23 10:49 am
klwilliams) wrote2008-02-23 10:49 am
Ten or two again
I agree that the best way is to let the person read the joke, but the reason the question came up for me is that I was telling someone on the phone about my new sweatshirt (that has the joke on it), and I wasn't sure how to say it to preserve the joke. And that got me to thinking about a logic class I took. My teacher would write
4
on the board, and ask us what that was. We would dutifully say, "four" or "the number four", but the answer is that that is the numeral four. Where does the number four live? In Platonic heaven. (That is, the number four is not something that has an actual physical presence, but is an idea.)
So on that note, "10" is the numeral (or set of numerals) that is pronounced in English "ten". That set of numerals is used to denote the number that is 1 times the base plus 0. So in base 2, "10" denotes the same value as base 10's 2, in base 8, "10" denotes 810, and so on. (Or, more simply, 10x = X10.)
So I would say that in English, in the joke, the correct way to pronounce "10" is "ten", but to maintain the joke, saying "one zero" is funnier. (Since "102" is pronounced "ten sub two", that would blow the joke entirely. And it's all about the joke.)
4
on the board, and ask us what that was. We would dutifully say, "four" or "the number four", but the answer is that that is the numeral four. Where does the number four live? In Platonic heaven. (That is, the number four is not something that has an actual physical presence, but is an idea.)
So on that note, "10" is the numeral (or set of numerals) that is pronounced in English "ten". That set of numerals is used to denote the number that is 1 times the base plus 0. So in base 2, "10" denotes the same value as base 10's 2, in base 8, "10" denotes 810, and so on. (Or, more simply, 10x = X10.)
So I would say that in English, in the joke, the correct way to pronounce "10" is "ten", but to maintain the joke, saying "one zero" is funnier. (Since "102" is pronounced "ten sub two", that would blow the joke entirely. And it's all about the joke.)
If you have to explain it....
It works, but only when read silently. Sorta like 'visual rhymes' in poems, where the words look like they should rhyme but don't when actually spoken -- like rhyming "Laughter" with "Slaughter" and "Good" with "Blood". It doesn't quite work as a real rhyme, much as the "10"(base-2) thing doesn't quite work as a real joke.
(Your task is now to make a four-line poem with those four words in two rhyming couplets. It shouldn't be too hard.)
:wq
Re: If you have to explain it....
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But, it is the joke I was thinking of.
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