American vs. British English: meaning of "One hundred and fifty"

Question

I've noticed that Americans do not say "and" when speaking numbers: for example, 150 would be pronounced "one hundred fifty".

I and most other British-English speakers would pronounce it "one hundred and fifty".

I've seen a few different arguments on the net about which is "better", and something that is often asserted on the American side is that the "and" represents a decimal point - so "one hundred and fifty" would be interpreted as 100.50.

This struck me as odd, since although I see a lot of American movies and TV, I don't think I've ever heard anyone actually do this.

So my question: is this "and = decimal point" actually used in the USA, and can anyone cite some examples (maybe on youtube?)?

Answer 1

When I learned this “rule” (in first grade, I believe), it was explained that and separates the whole part from the fractional part: 2⅔=two and two thirds. The word and would only represent the decimal point in decimal numbers when they are read out in the formal “fractional” reading of decimals, as 2.3=two and three tenths, or 1.75=one and seventy-five one-hundredths. That is, according to this rule, *one hundred and fifty is ungrammatical because, if it is supposed to mean 150, it should be one hundred fifty, and if it is supposed to be mean 100.50, it should be one hundred and fifty one-hundredths. The rationale behind the rule is that you should only have one and in a phrase, so if the number were 403⅞, you wouldn’t say four hundred and three and seven eighths.

Of course, most of the time the decimal point is read as point: 2.3=two point three; 1.75=one point seven five or one point seventy-five; 100.50=one hundred point five zero, one hundred point five oh, or one hundred point fifty. The fractional reading of decimal numbers also starts to become a bit ridiculous if there are more than three digits after the decimal point: nobody would say 3.14159265=three and fourteen million one hundred fifty-nine thousand two hundred sixty-five one hundred millionths.

As you have undoubtedly observed, many Americans don’t follow the rule about and only being used to separate whole and fractional parts, and insert and just before the units of a number less than one hundred, although the forms without and are quite common too.

457 four hundred fifty-seven or four hundred and fifty-seven
2001 two thousand one or two thousand and one
1,000,001 one million one or one million and one

Answer 2

I speak Canadian English and over here I'd say both usages are common and nobody ever says "and" when they mean "decimal" or "point".

As far as nohat's answer, where the "rule" is that you can only use and for fractional parts, I've never been taught that rule as far as I can recall.

Answer 3

For what it's worth, as an American, I've never heard the usage "one hundred and fifty" to mean 100.50 (or similar). I would say "a hundred fifty," or "one hundred and fifty" to mean 150, but not "one hundred fifty".

Even in dealing with currency I never hear and used to indicate a decimal unless the decimal is followed by the word cents.

IE: for $20.75:

'Twenty dollars and seventy-five cents' might be used, but 'Twenty seventy-five' would be more common.

Answer 4

Instead of "I've never seen..." answers, how about some actual references? Like this:

LINK

When saying or writing out numbers, the British insert an and before the tens and units, as in one hundred and sixty-two or two thousand and three. In the United States it is considered correct to drop the and, as in one hundred sixty-two or two thousand three.

Answer 5

As an American, I've never heard of the 'and' indicating a decimal. Except when writing a check (cheque). In that case, when writing out the words, we use

One hundred fifty and no/100 for 150.00 
One hundred and 50/100 for 100.50

But, as you notice, the decimal parts are not spelled out. As for spoken usage, both sound correct which probably means that both are in common usage.

Answer 6

Yesterday my five year old son answered a question with, "Three hundred and forty-four," which prompted my thirteen year old daughter to correct him, saying that he shouldn't say the "and" because that indicates that the number after "and" is a decimal or fraction. I told her that was crazy and I'd never heard that before. However, my wife agreed that my daughter was right. My wife received all of her education in Utah, as has my daughter so far. I went to kindergarten through third grade in Utah, but I went to fourth grade through the end of high school in California. I don't know if that has anything to do with our differing perspectives here, but I cannot ever remember having heard someone say "some number AND some other number" to indicate whole numbers followed by decimals. On the other hand, I can't remember ever having been taught that such a thing was correct or incorrect either. In terms of both my education and my life experience (mostly in Utah, California, Nevada, and Arizona), I have always understood that the word that denotes a decimal is the word "point." I have, however, heard the "and" separator for fractions and even for decimals, but only if the number is followed by "tenths" or "hundredths," etc.

Answer 7

Within mathematics, two numerics associated with an "and" indicates summation; the common usage is "two and two is four" (2+2=4). (Note that mathematical sentences can include multiple "and"s; eg two and two and two is six (2+2+2=6).) So "one-hundred and fifty" would be 100 + 50 where "one-hundred fifty" would be 150. That being said, "one-hundred and fifty thousand" is commonly interpreted as 150,000, not 100 + 50,000. As such, it was my understanding that the "and" usage be limited as confusion can and does occur.

Answer 8

1. Plenty of Americans say "and" in the whole part of a number; the rhythm often demands it.

2. We are taught not to write it in professional situations, like when spelling out the amount on a check. (Even though the spelled amount on a check is the "legal amount," you're not going to void the check by breaking this convention.)

3. Despite our high school teachers telling us not to use "and" in a whole number in formal writing, my high school diploma spells out the year as "One Thousand Nine Hundred and Eighty-Five." (If I recall correctly, my college diploma says "Nineteen and Eighty-Nine".)

4. The "and" is not equivalent to "point"; rather it connects the whole part to the fractional part, e.g., "one and two thirds" or "three and twenty-three hundredths".

5. Sometimes the British usage is over simplified as "'and' after 'hundred'". But that doesn't cover the "and" in numbers like "two thousand and one", which is how I, an American, would say the number in conversation.

Answer 9

I'm a Canadian, and its common to drop the "hundred" as well, when pronouncing 150. Most of the time I would say "one fifty", which is also how I would pronounce 1.50. Just to make things even more confusing.

Answer 10

I question the premise of your question. Americans often read 150 as "one hundred and fifty". When I was in elementary school I was taught that the "and" was superfluous and should be omitted, but lots of Americans say it.

As others have said, I've never heard anyone use "and" to indicate a decimal point by itself. An American typically reads a dollar amount, like "$100.50", as "one hundred dollars and fifty cents". For a non-monetary amount, like "100.50", Americans read that as "one hundred point five zero" or "one hundred point fifty".

Answer 11

Another scenario where the use of and in a series of numbers is unclear to me is in explaining temperatures in Fahrenheit, like for example one hundred and three degrees.

Though I generally avoid correcting people, when patients relay their temperature as such, I clarify their intended meaning. For young or old, the intent can be 100.3 or 103.0, interestingly. This is unlikely an issue in other fields of work and in British or Canadian English.

Otherwise, I also was taught in grade school/primary school in Northern California that the use of and in a series of numbers indicated a decimal or preceded a fraction. For 150, both with and without and sound clear to me. In common speech, I would rarely be confused.

Answer 12

I’ve been here 14 years (from the UK) and dropping the and still sounds weird to my ear. Try and imagine a commentator at a darts match shouting “one hundred eighty” instead of “one hundred and eighty”. Just doesn’t have the same impact. Try saying “one three quarters” (could be heard as ¾) vs. “one and three quarters” (clearly means 1 ¾).

I should add that I’ve never heard or considered using and as a decimal point.

Answer 13

I am from the UK, and I would just to clarify the reasoning why I would always use "One hundred and fifty".
The "and" splits the 2 numbers to avoid confusion that the "one hundred" may affect the "fifty" as in meaning "one hundred fifties" or in other words 100 * 50.
(This may be similar to the way I and other people from the UK pronounce "can't" as carnt because it is easier to distinguish)

Answer 14

You are wrong. Americans say one hundred and fifty as well. When we would say 100.50, we say "one hundred point five".

Never make claims about which you are not sure.