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Calculator spelling

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O I or l Z E h
S g L B G
Inverted calculator digits
and their letter equivalents

Calculator spelling is an unintended characteristic of the seven-segment display traditionally used by calculators, in which, when read upside-down, the digits resemble letters of the Latin alphabet. Each digit may be mapped to one or more letters, creating a limited but functional subset of the alphabet, sometimes referred to as beghilos (or beghilosz).[1][2]

Applications

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Aside from novelty and amusement, calculator spelling has limited utility. The popularity of pagers in the 1990s gave rise to a form of leetspeak called "pager-speak."[3] Students, in particular, experimented with calculators to discover new words.

English version

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5318008

The "original" attributed example of calculator spelling, which dates from the 1970s,[4] is 5318008, which when turned over spells "BOOBIES". Another early example of calculator spelling offered the sequence 0.7734, which becomes "hello", or could also be written as 0.1134.[5] The 1979 album Five Three One - Double Seven O Four by The Hollies encodes the band's name in calculator spelling ("hOLLIES"). Other words possible with the traditional "BEghILOSZ" set include "loose", "shell", "BEIgE", "gOBBLE", "gOOgLE", and many others. Among the longest are "hILLBILLIES" and "SLEIghBELLS" at 11, "gLOSSOLOgIES" and "BIBLIOLOgIES" at 12 letters,[6] and "hEEBEEgEEBEES" at 13 letters, although the latter is not listed under that spelling in the Oxford Dictionary. Fittingly, glossology is the scientific study of language and linguistics. Another common case, 7734206, spells "gO 2 hELL". 8008 is special in that it can spell "BOOB" upside-down or right-side up. 71077345 spells "SHELLOIL". There are also a couple of names that are able to be calculator spelled. For example, 318830=DEBBIE, 7718=BILL, 46137=LEIgh, 5107=LOIS, 31773=ELLIE, 31717173=ELI LILIE (in Polish: lily flowers of Elisabeth) and 302=ZOE.

Scientific and programmer calculators

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ACEspOFspBASE
"Ace of Base" in hexspeak

Scientific calculators that feature hexadecimal readout using the letters A through F offer more flexibility. Using a scientific calculator with hex capability, the earlier "5318008" example can be improved with the A–F keys to spell "B00B1E5", without needing to rotate the display (a practice known as hexspeak or Base 16).

b00b1E5

Students often use this capability and the improved "alpha" feature that use the letters "A" through "Z" to write messages, separating words by using the minus sign ("-") or other punctuation.

In some calculators that use dot matrix displays, a factorial product sign ("!") can be used to add emphasis. For example, "B00B1E5!".

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Quinion, Michael (2009-08-08). "World Wide Words: Beghilos". Retrieved 2017-07-06.
  2. ^ QYV (1994-09-11). "Was Re: Mech postings.. Design: 2750". Google Groups. Newsgroup: rec.games.mecha. Usenet: JACQUES.4.2E735F23@PHYSICS.watstar.uwaterloo.ca. Retrieved 2017-07-06.
  3. ^ Pager Language | Teens Create Language of Pager-Speak - Los Angeles Times
  4. ^ Tom Dalzell; Terry Victor (27 November 2014). The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English. Taylor & Francis. p. 2060. ISBN 978-1-317-62511-7.
  5. ^ "Words that can be written on a calculator". Everything2. Everything Development Co. 2000-03-13.
  6. ^ StrasseRares (2019-09-03). "[Request] What's the longest word you can write on a calculator upside down?". r/theydidthemath. Retrieved 2024-03-08.

Further reading

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  • Heinrich Hemme: Die Hölle der Zahlen - 92 mathematische Rätsel mit ausführlichen Lösungen, page 19/73 (German)
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