Issue

How do you say a phone number?

Examples

555-2702

• The number 0 might be pronounced as 'zero', or as the letter O. A person with a Spanish accent might say 'say-roe': it's spelled cero in Spanish.

555-1419

• Some people say each digit separately: 'five five five pause one four one nine'
• Others use pairs or groups: 'five five five pause fourteen nineteen.'

Guidelines

If the numbers are important, say them as single digits. That way, you make it take longer to say, it will stick in the listeners mind a bit more.

Make sure your characters say numbers consistently. If John says 'one-seventy-five” for 175, he probably will say 'one-fifty' for 150. If he says 'a hundred and seventy five', he will probably say 'a hundred and fifty.

Be consistent with the narrator's voice too.

Write out the words for the numbers during preparation (see the 555-1419 example above).