[COFF] On having a slash

[Clem Cole]

FWIW -- I still slash both zeros and sevens.   I was probably 12 when I was
taught that trick, plus the print head of an ASR33 slashed zero's and 1, l,
7 were all distinct. So sat the time, it seemed cool and advanced.  Then it
just became a habit, and as we know, old habits are difficult to change and
frankly, I never saw the reason to stop.  My handwriting is a bit of a mess
as it is, so anything I do the make it clear has always been considered a
good thing by people around me.🤔

On Mon, Apr 13, 2020 at 7:31 AM David Barto <david at kdbarto.org> wrote:

> Yes. When I took my first programming class at UCSD they specifically went
> through the numbers and alphabet showing the mark up and being very careful
> to go over 0, 1, 7 and O multiple times. I’ve stopped slashing my 0, and I
> still slash my 7. IDK why I stopped the one and not the other.
>
> A long time ago, in a universe(ity) far far away.
>
>         David
>
> > On Apr 13, 2020, at 2:01 AM, Dave Horsfall <dave at horsfall.org> wrote:
> >
> > Way back then, when dinosaurs strode the earth and System/360 reigned
> supreme, we were taught to slash our zeros and sevens (can't quite find the
> glyphs for them right now) in order to distinguish them from Oscars and
> Ones for the benefit of the keypunch girls (yes, really; I had the hots for
> one of them at one time, but someone else took her) on those green sheets.
> >
> > In the time-mean I also saw a slash through "Z" (Zulu, Zed, Zee) in
> order to distinguish it from a "2" (FIGURES TWO); WTF?  And you *never*
> slashed your ones, lest thou ended up with the contents of an 029 chad-box
> over thine head...
> >
> > These days, I merely slash my sevens by habit and it doesn't even raise
> an eyebrow; even Oz Pigeon Post's mail mangler seems to accept it[*].
> >
> > What're other bods' experiences?
> >
> > [*]
> > Don't even mention Redfern, OK?  Just don't...  And as for getting off
> at Redfern, well, I did a few times when I had a contract job around there.
> >
> > -- Dave, bored at home
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