Now THAT is interesting... :o)


>Mind if I jump in out of nowhere?
>
>I *never* heard "minus 10" or "negative 10". I always heard "10 below". And I heard it PLENTY. <g>
>
>I also remember my Grandmother talking about "10 less 2" as the "proper" way to say it.
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>You just can't bestow any generic linguistic use on the lowly -. It varies too much.
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>
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>>In school? Seriously? I ask because here we are taught in school (specifically in all math courses) that 'negative' is the correct way to represent anything less than zero. I attended middle and high school in Wisconsin, Colorado (4 different schools there), and Oregon and it was that same at all. Minus is only used for arithmetic functions. However, minus has become the standard way of referring to degrees in temperature below zero simply by common usage. I did not realize there was such a difference between England and America on that. My math teachers (and my daughter's as well) would be hyperventilating if they knew :o)