Silly Ideas

Zero Is Not A Letter
We stop the confusion between the digit zero and the letter 'O'.

Having the same symbol for the digit zero and the letter 'O' is just confusing.

Have you ever:-

  • Said the word 'Oh' when reciting a telephone number?
  • Repeatedly failed to correctly enter a password containing the symbol O (letter) or 0 (digit)?
  • Wondered why we put up with this confusion?

Don't even get me started on the lower-case letter 'L' and the digit one!

The simple change below stops this confusion.

Our Solution

Firstly, just stop using the word 'Oh' in a telephone number. It's ZERO ‼

Secondly, let's all agree to use different symbols for zero and the letter 'O'.

Computer programmers have been doing this for ages (because they are different keys on a keyboard).

Computer programmers use the following symbol for zero. You should too!

I used an image for the above symbol since most fonts use a symbol for the digit zero that's nearly identical to the symbol for the letter 'O'.

So we'll need all font designers to change their fonts to use the above symbol for zero.

Talking of font designers ... stop using virtually identical symbols for the digit one and the lower-case letter 'L'. It's stupid!

Finally, we'll need every new keyboard to show this symbol on the zero key. Simples!

P.S. Sorry James Bond, but you'll need to become double-zero seven!