...we will observe it today instead in the fashion you see. Green represents Ireland. To be accurate, green represents the Republic of Ireland and orange represents the six counties of Northern Ireland. Green was the Catholic color and orange was the Protestant color. My dad always wore orange on St. Patrick's Day to indicate that no one was going to tell him what to do.
Now that I have your attention, I want to invite you to join my crusade against the very inaccurate phrase "24/7/365" which is illogical, unacceptable, and just plain wrong, wrong, wrong.
The more accurate phrase would be 24/7/52, as in 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. Think about it logically, building as you go. What are people who say "24/7/365" saying exactly? Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 what? It can't mean days a something as we've already used days. If we follow the pattern set, it must be 365 weeks a something, and that something turns out to be, if you use a calculator like I did, a period of 7.01923077 years.
Actually, to use progressively larger units correctly without skipping any along the way, we should probably say 24/7/4.33/12 (that is, hours per day, days per week, weeks per month, months per year). However, since that is a bit unwieldy, we can leave out months and just say 24/7/52 (hours per day, days per week, weeks per year).
Doesn't this make so much more sense, now that you have thought about it, than 24/7/365 (hours per day, days, per week, weeks per 7.01923077 years)?
Thank you for your support. Send money if you're so inclined. I'm sure St. Patrick would approve.
I hate the whole 24/7 phrase to begin with. It is a more modern version of per se. How many people who constantly end each sentence with per se even know what they are saying? Why not use your own words?
ReplyDeleteEmma, per se is a Latin phrase meaning "in, of, or by itself" although some people seem to mean "as is" when they use it. Either way, it doesn't mean 24/7 which is more like "all the time"....
DeleteI use my own made-up words when I'm talking with my dog Abby. She doesn't know what they mean and neither do I but we get along famously.
We are celebrating St. Patrick's day today (Saturday) with the traditional corned beef and cabbage. Shall I send you a gold coin for your pot of gold?
ReplyDeleteTerra, absolutely. Are you a leprechaun?
ReplyDeleteI have never seen nor used 24/7/365. 24/7? Yes: a lot and I use it too.
ReplyDeleteThe Orange and The Green is also well known to me as I was born in Liverpool. There is an old Liverpool joke: what is green on one side, orange on the other and has a white line down the middle? Answer: Netherfield Road North. You can work that out for yourself easily. If you were from one side then you didn't walk on the pavement/sidewalk on the other side!
Graham, you give me the opportunity to use the word Liverpudlian, a word I have never had reason to use before, and for that I thank you. Please note that I have modified this post to contain all three of Ireland's colors - green, white, and orange.
DeleteI am right behind your campaign Bob. So much behind it that I have been left behind. Instead of using 24/7 or 24/7/52 or 24/7/365, I wish people would break away from the baaing flock and use words instead. There are many expressions one might select to more accurately convey notions of frequency or regularity.
ReplyDeleteY. Pudding, re notions of frequency, there is an informal litany in evangelical churches that goes like this:
DeleteLeader: God is good.
Congregation: All the time.
Leader: And all the time,
Congregation: God is good.
I hope they never start saying "24/7"....
Regularity, however, is achieved through the use of laxatives.