Strange expression, “zero eight zero!” The priests of the language appear to be shouting from the rooftop, considering the ripple effect and frequency the un-English statement pops up. We feel it around us and even join in singing the chorus, “zero eight zero,” what the English purist and masters, acknowledge as misuse or abuse of the language. It has become a tradition, almost to the point of damning the consequence, even when we are reminded that the phrase, “zero eight zero” in telephone numbers, is incorrect. Yet, the majority of the Nigerian audience, especially, won’t care a hoot to change the pattern. It is either the cheap and unpopular vocabulary, “zero eight zero” that looms large in their minds or nothing else, as they speak to the phone, to connect one another.
The language experts insist that ‘O,’ pronounced ‘Ou,’ the fifteenth letter of the English alphabet, is strictly suitable, with the mouth formed into an ‘O’ in telephone, especially when one is tempted to engage the technology to link his or her loved ones, friends, acquaintances or strike a business deal. As I wrote in my earlier piece, the noun, “O eight O” (O8O..) is an established and approved statement that can’t be bent or altered to suit any one ego or personal ambition, in violation of the standard expression. Maybe we wait on the inventors of the language to tell us otherwise.
For now, the English enthusiasts want us to keep to the status quo, “O eight O” without trying to bastardise it. Imagine this scenario, and for the fact that the two-syllable word, “zero” goes with the synonym, naught, nadir, nil, nothing, when talking about the beautiful game of football, for instance. It would amount to a scandal or a dent on the language, to speak, “naught eight naught,” “nil eight nil,” “nothing eight nothing,” etc., if we insist on pronouncing “zero eight zero,” in determining the score line between two opposing teams in the game of football.
One would absolutely be right to speak or write, “zero, zero,” score line, “zero one,” “zero two,” “zero three,” and so on, in soccer, but not when it concerns the telephone. For emphasis, the correct engagement of the letter ‘O’ strictly for the telephone, is ‘O,’ with the mouth rounded, not “zero.” “Zero” is applicable to figures, the language purists, maintain. Stop mimicking the crowd. Because everyone else is romancing with the strange expression, “zero eight zero” does not give it legitimacy or make it right.
I often instruct my students to always scrutinised whatever English they are fed with, coming particularly from unapproved sources or persons in order to play safe and be on the right path. To digress, but still on statements that are misapplied, it’s incorrect to speak or write, “be rest assured.” For the umpteenth time, the correct usage of the phrase, is “rest assured,” to pledge one’s commitment to a cause, friendship, or invitation to an event.
The prefix and verb, ‘be’ is completely forgotten or thrown away, the language experts, advised. Expanding it further, (resting, rested); to continue to be and to remain committed, Chambers 21st Century Dictionary, explains. Make it a habit to stay focused and refused to be cajoled into committing errors that could haunt or hurt you. Be vigilant! There are several abnormal or uncommunicative statements some of us should be mindful of. Despite the priests of the language insistence that the standard expressions should not be bent anyhow, the unapproved phrase, “upliftment” still dominates, and even make headlines, in some cases. I will revisit the matter sooner than later.
