My latest rant - stop putting the $ after the number!

[McNutt]

I have no idea why, but a lot of people are writing dollar amounts with the $ after the number.

For sale - 200$

Just typing that made my head hurt and it took every bit of control to not write it as $200.

Why is this now a thing? I see it a lot online and it's perplexing to me how quickly it is spreading. There is a norm for writing dollar amounts (at least in the US) and I have no idea why people are intentionally doing it incorrectly. I'm not talking about someone from another country, but people born in the US who were brought up knowing how to write it. People don't accidentally place the $ after the value any more than I accidentally capitalize the third letter of a sentence instead of the first.

How do things like this spread? Another good example is the pronunciation of the work Nuclear. It's not like "the" or "thuh" because some people put a third syllable in Nuclear and pronounce it "nu-cu-ler". That is an established thing and I have never figured out how that pronunciation started or caught on.

[LawBeefaroni]

They're using the $ as a short form of "dollars". I hate it too but it's more like "howRU" than misplacing a mark.

Also don't French Canadians put it after the number? Could be that too.

No discussion of this would be complete without mentioning the groundbreaking placement in "U2K tha Greate$t."

[Paingod]

I never say "Dollars 200" and I never write "200$"

I don't like the way texting is mangling the English language. /Lawn

[LawBeefaroni]

$1 Million dollars.

[Rumpy]

Could it be that people are much more aware of how it's done internationally via the internet and end up picking up those behaviors? Dunno.

Also don't French Canadians put it after the number? Could be that too.

Well, being French-Canadian, I don't remember ever doing it that way.

In general, I think it could be a case of cultural proliferation. You have more immigrants and more contact with outside influence, and then you have the internet and a combination of those could lead to people picking up new habits. It's down to people in general being impressionable.

[Paingod]

On reflection, English is one of the harder languages to learn because of things like this.

Maybe some streamlining is in order. When they teach my kids how to write, they're starting with phonetic spellings, not dictionary spelling - but you can still understand exactly what they're trying to say as long as you sound it all out in your head.

I should start using 200$ and join the movement.

[LawBeefaroni]

Also don't French Canadians put it after the number? Could be that too.

Well, being French-Canadian, I don't remember ever doing it that way.

I can't seem to find a perfect example. Maybe I'm thinking of something like this:

Près de 1 milliard $ pour l’acquisition et le déploiement d’outils numériques dans toutes les écoles

Random, went looking and found this transliteration:

2019 Operating budget and 2019-2021 Tree-year capital works program Highlights

[McNutt]

$1 Million dollars.

While I don't like that either, it's on the level of people saying "enter your PIN number." It's redundant, but not stroke inducing.

And I don't think the people doing it on the internet are cultured enough to use other countries as a model.

[Isgrimnur]

The department that handles vehicle titles now site outside my office. The number of time I have/will have heard "VIN number" will likely number number in the thousands.

[$iljanus]

$iljanus believes the $ should always go first.

[Jaymann]

I don't care where you put the $ as long as you put it in my pocket.

[hepcat]

!I hate that

[The Meal]

Per cent symbols go after the number. 96% of the time. Offenses against that should cost the perpetrator from 25¢ to $1.

[LordMortis]

!I hate that

You only included half your bang and the half you included was upside down. You meant: ¡I hate that!

[Rumpy]

I can't seem to find a perfect example. Maybe I'm thinking of something like this:

Près de 1 milliard $ pour l’acquisition et le déploiement d’outils numériques dans toutes les écoles

Interesting. Yeah, I dunno. I think it's a quirk as to how it's written out in professional capacity. I'll say this though: Even with me being French-Canadian, I find the French as written by Quebec publications to be hard to read. I don't feel it flows very naturally. That's due to how the French used in the Province of Quebec tends to be very isolated and very specific to the point that it feels alien to me. They also use lots of French-Canadian slang that I've never heard or used. The way I speak French, and I do so sparingly, wouldn't sound the same to anyone in Quebec.

Offenses against that should cost the perpetrator from 25¢ to $1.

See, this is where I could see some being confused. Some might logically think that because a cent symbol goes after the number, that the dollar should follow as well.


Makes cents

[Isgrimnur]

My wife spends her time on Discord playing Conan with a couple from Quebec. The guy is bilingual, and his gf does not speak English. Even better, he plays with an open mike, so we get to hear their discussions back and forth.

[$iljanus]

My wife spends her time on Discord playing Conan with a couple from Quebec. The guy is bilingual, and his gf does not speak English. Even better, he plays with an open mike, so we get to hear their discussions back and forth.

Wife should drop the T bomb and yell out "Tabernac"! (French Canadian guy said this all the time in my old lab. Wasn't something to utter in polite conversation)

[Isgrimnur]

Her colleague has no issues dropping it regularly.

[Rumpy]

My wife spends her time on Discord playing Conan with a couple from Quebec. The guy is bilingual, and his gf does not speak English. Even better, he plays with an open mike, so we get to hear their discussions back and forth.

Wife should drop the T bomb and yell out "Tabernac"! (French Canadian guy said this all the time in my old lab. Wasn't something to utter in polite conversation)

That's because it's the French-Canadian equilalent to the F-word

Speaking of which, this leads me to one of my favourite movie scenes:

[Blackhawk]

I likewise despise "a $100."

"So he I gave him a $100 and sent him on his way."

[Jaymann]

That's why C note was uh, coined.