atw: Re: '24/7'
- From: "Terry Dowling" <Terrence.Dowling@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2012 09:59:53 +0800
Hi Howard,
I agree that it’s clumsy and forgets the leap year. I’d be inclined to use ‘an
around-the-clock’ rather than ‘round’ – but I’d prefer to say something like
‘always open[available?]’ or ‘24 hours a day, every day of the year’.
Cheers,
Terry
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Howard Silcock
Sent: Wednesday, 22 August 2012 9:20 AM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: '24/7'
A document I'm currently working with refers to "a 24 hour seven days' a week,
365 days' a year global network environment". Apart from the misuse of
apostrophes and the mixture of singular 'hour' with plural 'days', this seems a
very cumbersome expression for a very clear concept.
I need to refer to this passage in another document I'm writing, and was
tempted to simplify it to 'a 24/7 global network environment' or to 'a
round-the-clock global network environment'. But, after consulting the
Wikipedia article '24/7', I'm wondering if this would be wise. It seems the
term '24/7' has caused some confusion when used in company promotions,
especially over whether it implies availability on holidays. I don't really
want to write '24/7/365' – that's getting cumbersome again, and the pedant in
me keeps wondering 'what about leap years?'. I like 'round-the-clock', but
Wikipedia suggests it's a UK usage.
What do you think?
Howard
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