Phone number reading: an experimental poll

[forthright]

Okay, readers, here is your opportunity to aid in the cause of Science! I am doing some preliminary research on how people read numbers in various contexts, focusing initially on phone numbers (North American format). This poll is designed to help me develop further research questions; I'm not using the results directly as data, so I'm not

Comments

SSN

[pne]

Ooh, do also do social security numbers eventually.

I think those also have a very fixed format, and quoting them in any other grouping will confuse most people.

Re: SSN

[beckyzoole]

My husband insists on quoting his social security number in a 3-3-3 group, instead of 3-2-4, and it throws me off every time!

[beckyzoole]

I try to use "oh" instead of "zero" when reciting any number over the phone (not just phone numbers). This is because whenever there is static or a poor connection, I find the sound of "zero" gets confused with that of "seven".

[sam_t]

In the UK, phone numbers are not usually formatted like that: without an area code they'd be written as one string of six digits (or two groups of three, but afaik that's pretty rare and possibly archaic - I'm struggling to remember where I saw it last). Would you like me to answer based on the formatting you specified (as if they were non-telephone numbers that happened to be formatted in a particular way) or by the rules I use when reading out UK telephone numbers?

UK

[pne]

In the UK, phone numbers are [...] written as one string of six digits

That depends on the are, though, doesn't it? As in Germany?

IIRC, London (for example) has seven digits (but only three in the STD code), and some smaller exchanges have five digits (those tend to have longer STD codes, too).

Re: UK

[sam_t]

Yes, you're right. Six digit numbers are in the majority by some way, though, especially if you ignore London.

[foms]

Among other things: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chunking_(psychology)

I can't fill out the poll directly, so I will try to do so here

[krilltish]

Respectively:

Preferred.
Acceptable.
Acceptable.
Acceptable.
Understandable.
Understandable.
Understandable.
Understandable.
Acceptable.
Acceptable.

Preferred.
Acceptable.
Acceptable.
Acceptable.
Understandable.
Understandable.
Understandable.
Understandable.
Marginal.
Understandable.
Understandable.

Incorrect.
Preferred.
Incorrect.
Preferred.
Understandable.
Understandable.
Marginal.
Understandable.
Incorrect.
Understandable.
Understandable.
Understandable.
Understandable.