Is it too much to ask that every modernized country use the same three 3-digit code for calling emergency services?
America wanted to be different to England which is also the reason why America drives on the right hand side of the road.
We'll talk again when America accepts the internationally recognised dd(d)-mm(m)-(yy)yy format instead of it's inane mm(m)-dd(d)-(yy)yy format
Both are inane since they don't sort. yyyy-mm-dd is most useful.
Oh thank you, thank you, thank you. At least someone has some common sense. This is the ONLY format that actually makes sense. It sorts properly without any special effort, and after having used it exclusively (except in forms that don't allow it) for many years, I can tell you that EVERYONE from both the Americans and Europe understand it immediately. That's definitely not the case with either of the more common systems.
Is it too much to ask that every modernized country use the same three 3-digit code for calling emergency services?
yes, these type of things are hard-wired habits and a switch would cause epic confusion and take several generations to accomplish. Plus the potential danger of people not being able to contact the emergency services when they switch off the old number is too much of a risk.
And who's number would you choose? 911 because 'merica? 999 like the UK, 112 like most of Europe? Some countries use different numbers for Police, Ambulance, Fire so that would be even more confusing for them, having to create switchboards that have to redirect your calls to each service.
Yes, because in the English language you would totally say, “Today is tenth March, twenty seventeen.”
Actually we do, if someone asked me the date today, I'd say It's the "15th of August, 2017". day-month-year, just seems logical? I'd also say "two thousand and seventeen" rather than 20-17, only beyond 2020 have I heard it referred to as two separate numbers here (eg. twenty-twenty).
Is it too much to ask that every modernized country use the same three 3-digit code for calling emergency services?
yes, these type of things are hard-wired habits and a switch would cause epic confusion and take several generations to accomplish. Plus the potential danger of people not being able to contact the emergency services when they switch off the old number is too much of a risk.
And who's number would you choose? 911 because 'merica? 999 like the UK, 112 like most of Europe? Some countries use different numbers for Police, Ambulance, Fire so that would be even more confusing for them, having to create switchboards that have to redirect your calls to each service.
Actually, that decision has long been made.
112 works pretty much everywhere on cellphones (being part of the GSM standard) and is automatically forwarded to the local emergency number by the network.
Is it too much to ask that every modernized country use the same three 3-digit code for calling emergency services?
yes, these type of things are hard-wired habits and a switch would cause epic confusion and take several generations to accomplish. Plus the potential danger of people not being able to contact the emergency services when they switch off the old number is too much of a risk.
And who's number would you choose? 911 because 'merica? 999 like the UK, 112 like most of Europe? Some countries use different numbers for Police, Ambulance, Fire so that would be even more confusing for them, having to create switchboards that have to redirect your calls to each service.
As already noted, adding one doesn't mean you have to get rid of another. When I use to travel I'd use a sharpie to write the number on my forearm (as well as my name and country or origin on the souls of my feet). Nowadays with so much access to the internet the forearm marking is less necessary, but I still do it. Access to the souls of my feet is tougher decades later.
As for which number, It doesn't matter. '999' is easiest to remember, but also easier to butt dial. I think '911' was used to make the '9' action deliberate and the two '1's quick with rotary phones. I think the EU's '112' is a good option, but the actual number is inconsequential so long as it's standard.
In what year did the Titanic sink? In what year did Leif Erikson land in Newfoundland? While I agree that William Shatner’s “twenty-oh-four” for the first decade was weird, once you have more than non-zero numbers, it just feels better to compartmentalize. Oh! I forget how many digits are in British phone numbers, but how would you guys write/read them off? Maybe that’s tied in to this.
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Please try it out folks, and spread the word.
And who's number would you choose? 911 because 'merica? 999 like the UK, 112 like most of Europe? Some countries use different numbers for Police, Ambulance, Fire so that would be even more confusing for them, having to create switchboards that have to redirect your calls to each service.
112 works pretty much everywhere on cellphones (being part of the GSM standard) and is automatically forwarded to the local emergency number by the network.
As for which number, It doesn't matter. '999' is easiest to remember, but also easier to butt dial. I think '911' was used to make the '9' action deliberate and the two '1's quick with rotary phones. I think the EU's '112' is a good option, but the actual number is inconsequential so long as it's standard.
In what year did the Titanic sink? In what year did Leif Erikson land in Newfoundland?