We were having a conversation the other day and a guy said something like, well that\u2019s not the way we did it back in aught four. I hadn\u2019t heard \u201caught\u201d used as a number in a long time, but when I was growing up, it seemed like that\u2019s what everyone said. Take 703 for instance \u2014 today we usually say \u201cseven zero three.\u201d But when I was little, at least in Oklahoma, most people would say \u201cseven aught three.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s just the way people talked \u2014 they\u2019d say \u201cback in aught-four Bush was president\u2026.\u201d or something like that. According to the dictionary, using the term \u201caught\u201d could mean both \u201czero\u201d and \u201canything.\u201d
So aught is an old-fashioned word that was fairly commonly used in the past to mean zero. There are a number of\u00a0 reasons that the use of aught to mean zero has declined \u2014 or gone away entirely\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aught could mean both nothing and anything \u2014 that led to confusion. If you said he has aught of sense, it could mean he has some<\/em> sense or no<\/em> sense \u2014 depending on interpretation.\u00a0 \u00a0 But even today, you still find some old codgers that use aught in certain phrases \u2014 like referring to the early 2000s as \u201cthe aughts.\u201d We were having a conversation the other day and a guy said something like, well that\u2019s not the way we did it back in aught four. I hadn\u2019t heard \u201caught\u201d used as a number in a long time, but when … Continue reading
As mathematics and science advanced, zero became the universally accepted term \u2014 especially in education, business and technology.
Over time, English speakers naturally favored other words, like nothing<\/em> or simply zero<\/em>, which were clearer and more commonly used in everyday speech.
Aught was more common in older English dialects, especially in Britain, but it gradually faded from everyday American and even British English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"