military@cbnews.att.com (william.b.thacker) (02/28/91)
From: alberta!atrc!pandora!sharma (Rohit Sharma) The ^ mark probably is the number 7 (?) in the arabian script. -Rohit
pd@sics.se (Per Danielsson) (03/05/91)
From: pd@sics.se (Per Danielsson) In article <1991Feb28.051823.9329@cbnews.att.com>, alberta!atrc!pandora!sharma (Rohit Sharma) writes: >The ^ mark probably is the number 7 (?) in the arabian >script. No, the numeral 7 in arabic looks like "7". That's why our numerals are called arabic numerals... -- Per Danielsson pd@sics.se Swedish Institute of Computer Science, PO Box 1263, S-164 28 KISTA, SWEDEN
iqbal@eesun.gwu.edu (Iqbal Qazi) (03/06/91)
From: iqbal@eesun.gwu.edu (Iqbal Qazi) In article <1991Mar4.204352.4365@cbnews.att.com> pd@sics.se (Per Danielsson) writes: >In article <1991Feb28.051823.9329@cbnews.att.com>, alberta!atrc!pandora!sharma (Rohit Sharma) writes: >>The ^ mark probably is the number 7 (?) in the arabian >>script. >No, the numeral 7 in arabic looks like "7". That's why our numerals are called >arabic numerals... No, the arabic #7 does not look like our 7. Our numbers are based on, but don't look like, Arabic numbers. I forget which number it is, but I think it is the number 6 that looks like an upsidedown V = "^". Not that this is relevant or anything, Iqbal
clj@ksr.com (Chris Jones) (03/06/91)
From: clj@ksr.com (Chris Jones) In article <1991Mar4.204352.4365@cbnews.att.com>, pd@sics (Per Danielsson) writes: >In article <1991Feb28.051823.9329@cbnews.att.com>, alberta!atrc!pandora!sharma (Rohit Sharma) writes: > >>The ^ mark probably is the number 7 (?) in the arabian >>script. > >No, the numeral 7 in arabic looks like "7". That's why our numerals are called >arabic numerals... I don't know why our numerals are called Arabic numerals, but the numeral 7 in Arabic looks like a "V". The numerals 1 and 9 look like ours, their 5 looks astonishlingly like a 0, 0 looks like a center-dot, two and three look vaguely like the Greek gamma and 4 looks sort of like a sigma, and I forget the rest. When I was in Egypt in early 1981, I chuckled when I got a 5 piastre coin in change; it looked like a coin with a big zero in the middle of it. -- Chris Jones clj@ksr.com {world,uunet,harvard}!ksr!clj
oyvinw@ifi.uio.no (yvin Wormn{s) (03/07/91)
From: \yvin Wormn{s <oyvinw@ifi.uio.no>
From pd@sics.se (Per Danielsson)
> In article <1991Feb28.051823.9329@cbnews.att.com>, alberta!atrc!pandora!sharma (Rohit Sharma) writes:
> >The ^ mark probably is the number 7 (?) in the arabian
> >script.
> No, the numeral 7 in arabic looks like "7". That's why our numerals are called
> arabic numerals...
The number "7" is a "V" in arabic. (SeVen, was the way I remembered it when
I had to learn the numbers). The number "8" is an upside-down "V".
That's how I learned it when I had to catch the right bus in Cairo. The
numbers should be the same in all varieties of arabic.
\yvin oyvinw@ifi.uio.nostyri@cs.heriot-watt.ac.uk (Yu No Hoo) (03/07/91)
From: styri@cs.heriot-watt.ac.uk (Yu No Hoo) >In article <1991Feb28.051823.9329@cbnews.att.com>, alberta!atrc!pandora!sharma (Rohit Sharma) writes: >The ^ mark probably is the number 7 (?) in the arabian >script. In article <1991Mar4.204352.4365@cbnews.att.com> pd@sics.se (Per Danielsson) writes: >No, the numeral 7 in arabic looks like "7". That's why our numerals are called >arabic numerals... Sure, we call our numerals arabic, and we even write them in the same order as in arabic. (I guess thats why I have to read large numbers from right to left if the digits aren't grouped. :-) However, digits are written with different signs in 'modern' (?) arabic. The inverted "v" is in fact the number 8. (The only signs that look similar to our digits are 1 and 9.) I believe this thread can be continued in soc.culture.arabic or something. I guess the paint job used in desert shield was nothing more than a symbol. A simple symbol that easily could be changed if neccessary. ---------------------- Haakon Styri Dept. of Comp. Sci. ARPA: styri@cs.hw.ac.uk Heriot-Watt University X-400: C=gb;PRMD=uk.ac;O=hw;OU=cs;S=styri Edinburgh, Scotland
ab3o+@andrew.cmu.edu (Allan Bourdius) (03/08/91)
From: Allan Bourdius <ab3o+@andrew.cmu.edu> The upside down "V" was painted on all coalition vehicles as a clear identification mark in an effort to prevent friendly-fire casualties, just like the black and white stripes that were painted on Allied aircraft for D-Day and the rest of WWII. The mark appeared on all sides of the vehicles. I expect that all ground forces had orders to destroy any vehicle that didn't carry the symbol. Obviously, this was only good in daylight. Allan
davecb@nexus.yorku.ca (David Collier-Brown) (03/08/91)
From: davecb@nexus.yorku.ca (David Collier-Brown) Odd... The vehicles in Desert Storm/Shield seem to have used the same symbol as the Israelis' vehicles in the golan heights battles. Is this something conventional? Or just a convenient symbol like the ``invasion stripes'' on aircraft over the Normandy beachead? -- David Collier-Brown, | davecb@Nexus.YorkU.CA | lethe!dave 72 Abitibi Ave., | Willowdale, Ontario, | Even cannibals don't usually eat their CANADA. 416-223-8968 | friends.