Eich-tu-ou?

Writing it as H2O is really more correct. It isn't a number that should be written in words.

Snick said:

Writing it as H2O is really more correct. It isn't a number that should be written in words.

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Ditto with Snick. Also just because I'd keep chemical formula as familiar as can be, and H20 is a lot familiar than any phonetic representation (aych-two-oe).

Spelling it out in any of the phonetic examples leads me to infer that the speaker (or writer in a first person narrative) doesn't understand chemical formulas.

Pronunciation is a different matter.

I think that "aitch-tu-o" is about as close as one could get without using the IPA.

boron said:

Ok, so it's like "o" or "oh" on the end rather than "ou."

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Yes, it is a simple 'O' sound, as in "so", not an 'ou' as in "you". Of course, there are regional differences, and I don't know how others might write those sounds.

In dialogue, I spell everything out. No one ever has spoken a number. We all speak words, not numbers. This is why every number and every letter has a proper spelling. Only vowels are spelled with their own letter.

Depends on where you are from. Some would say "aitch two oh," but others would say "haitch two oh."

boron said:

How do you spell H2O?

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boron said:

I wanted to ask how it is pronounced

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That question doesn't make much sense.

People with difference accents pronounce things differently. Do you mean people who speak normally or those with an American accent?

Here are three questions:
1. How do you pronounce 'H'?
2. How do you pronounce '2' ?
3. How do you pronounce 'O' ?

Just put your three answers in line and you've answered the question.

Mac
(PS: Yes - I'm not implying that 'American' is the only incorrect accent or even that it's a single accent. We all obviously have multiple ways of stuffing up the correct Queen's English. Clearly the only correct pronunciation is that as spoken by Queen Victoria in 1900. So we are meant to speak with a thick German accent)

Why do you even want to spell it out? Everyone knows what H2O is. I've seen that in prose plenty of times, and I've never seen any attempt to "spell" it out.

caw

Jamesaritchie said:

In dialogue, I spell everything out. No one ever has spoken a number. We all speak words, not numbers. This is why every number and every letter has a proper spelling. Only vowels are spelled with their own letter.

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Now, there's a fine can of worms. I would use H20 (with the 2 as a subscript), and 1215 or other years, and 1,465 and other large, specific numbers, even in dialogue.

I only spell numbers out up to about twenty, plus the big, even ones. Two hundred. Three million. Four and a half trillion.

Generally, I spell out fractions, within reason. Four-fifths. But not twenty-three fifty-sixths, because the reader would have to translate it in his head.

In dialogue, something like H2O would appear as H2O because the speaker in the dialogue usually knows what that nugget means.

Now, in a sci fi work, if i had a speaker who doesn't read, doesn't know science, and only knows that phrase from what he's heard, then I'd expect him to say something like "The man in white said my aitch-too-oh levels are low." Maybe. I'd have to think about it more. But yeah.