Even for a pedant I feel this is a dreary post but here goes!

[No19]

All over MN people refer to their children as being 2.8 or 4.10 or whatever, intending to mean 2 years and 8 months or 4 years and 10 months.

I may be a pedant but am rubbish at maths so cannot work out what 2.8 years actually is - however I do know it's not 2 years and 8 months!

Should I be seeing someone about this?

yes i think you need help

I'd always assumed it was 2yrs 8months - either that or MN is full of good mathematicians

Yeah that annoys me too. Fools.

even for a pedant, that is really going some to be upset about this!!!

Yes, it means that my dd2, 3.11 is three years and eleven months. It's easier to type than "three years eleven months" and easier than trying to work out what 3.87% of 4 is

I mean I assumed it was shorthand for 2yrs 8months

oh dear, I always thought it meant 2ys 8 months too - how should it be ?

As a pedant I know it isn't correct, but it is quicker than putting 4 yrs 6 months.

I wonder how long I will keep using parts of a year when saying how old DS and DD are - they are 4.6 and 2.8 at the moment.

I think it is acceptable to use what we know as the decimal point to divide items are naturally arranged in non-decimal groups

I think that this falls in to the realm of things that are not strictly correct but are so much quicker, and so commonly used, that they are accepted.
It is a sort of short hand.
Oh, and it's not only on MN that people do it ...

LOL about seeing someone - I often wonder whether I should, but mine tend to be related to CBBeeies!

2.8 is 2 years 9.6 months (or 9 months 18 days) . That is assuming it is a 30 fday month, a 31 day motnh would be 18.6 days!

I wonder when I'll be able to put my childrens' ages without using my fingers to work it out

Perhaps we should have a special mathematicians'/statisticians' area. Those who would like to post there could ensure that they post the ages of their dcs more appropriately.

p.s. if I have spelt any of those words wrong I don't care. I get anxious in here.

Lollipop, mum to dd1 age 4.678 years, and dd2 age 0.7655 years. (although for those of you not logging on until this evening, dd2 will then be 0.7657 years)

Do you know, this has always bothered me too. Esp when it's 2.5 (or similar) - I can't help reading that as 2 1/2 (I know there's only a month difference, but it wrong-foots me every time.

ComeOVeneer - respeck.

funnypeculiar - exactly. I cannot do sums but I know that 2.5 is two and a half.

No19 are you by any chance bored, or (like me), avoiding tedious housework?

My DS is currently somewhere between two and a half and three

lollipop it's work I'm avoiding , somebody would bloody notice.

I am not a pedant but this annoys me too drives me mad to the point I cannot actually bring myself to do it. I read 2.5 as 2 1/2 as well.
It always makes me think of my old patient maths teacher droning on about these kind of mistakes when people made them in class.

My dd2 is exactly 3.141 years old today; it is her pi birthday. We are going to celebrate by eating pie this evening, of course.

some use a semicolon thus: 3;5

shall we campaign for that as an alternative?

What about 3 4/12 for 3 years and 4 months? It is a fraction after all.