<p>When we need to repeat a letter or digit several times (for example when spelling out a number or an acronym) it is easier to explicitly quantify it instead of spelling it out repeatedly: for example we will spell <em>I-triple-E</em> instead of <em>I-E-E-E</em>, or <em>triple-five</em> instead of <em>five-five-five</em> (in French: SSII spelled as <em>deux-es-deux-i</em> instead of <em>es-es-i-i</em>), we will write W3 instead of WWW, etc. My intuition tells me that when we repeat the same letter/digit multiple times the listener will need to count them, and may get confused, while if we warn him/her that there will be a repetition and give the final count of items, he/she avoids counting operation and therefore also the risk of miscounting.</p>

<p>My question is: how is this operation called, and do you know if anyone has studied it (in a psychological or cognitive frame)?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-02-13T04:24:31.757Z
First time I heard such was the TV program [That Was the Week That Was,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That_Was_the_Week_That_Was) or "TW3". My idea is that it is just easier to say (say "WWW" ten times) and avoids repetition which is boring.
user3169
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-02-13T10:26:56.193Z
Interesting example, since formally it should rather be (TW)3. My question is whether this has been studied from a psycho-cognitive point of view.
yannis
<language><reading><linguistics><behavior><language-processing>
How is it called when we explicitly quantify a letter or digit instead of spelling it out multiple times?
yannis
# How is it called when we explicitly quantify a letter or digit instead of spelling it out multiple times?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-02-12)

When we need to repeat a letter or digit several times (for example when spelling out a number or an acronym) it is easier to explicitly quantify it instead of spelling it out repeatedly: for example we will spell *I-triple-E* instead of *I-E-E-E*, or *triple-five* instead of *five-five-five* (in French: SSII spelled as *deux-es-deux-i* instead of *es-es-i-i*), we will write W3 instead of WWW, etc. My intuition tells me that when we repeat the same letter/digit multiple times the listener will need to count them, and may get confused, while if we warn him/her that there will be a repetition and give the final count of items, he/she avoids counting operation and therefore also the risk of miscounting.

My question is: how is this operation called, and do you know if anyone has studied it (in a psychological or cognitive frame)?

**Tags:** language, reading, linguistics, behavior, language-processing

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: First time I heard such was the TV program [That Was the Week That Was,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That_Was_the_Week_That_Was) or "TW3". My idea is that it is just easier to say (say "WWW" ten times) and avoids repetition which is boring.  
> **username_0**: Interesting example, since formally it should rather be (TW)3. My question is whether this has been studied from a psycho-cognitive point of view.  

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## 0 answers

