The Romans still have power in MMX

By Steve Benton ( Contact ) June 4, 2010

While "cold" reading (without pre-reading) a headline news story recently, I stumbled on something that's problematic for professional readers, a Roman numeral. This was not one of the easy, one through ten Roman numerals (I II III IV V VII VIII IX X), it was Pope Benedict XVI. Studying XVI for a moment, I was able to add the X=10 to the V=5 and the I=1 to get 16, but the studying part leaves what we in the radio business call a "pregnant pause" or more appropriately, "dead air." That's not a good thing.

I'm wondering... "why are the old Roman numerals used at all in MMX?" That's 2010 by the way.

It seems Roman numerals are commonly used after certain titles like the pope, king or queen. What is wrong with Pope Benedict 16th? While using the Roman numerals on signs or official documents isn't a problem, including them in material written for the general public, or in my case, a radio news anchor, is not a good idea.

So what do you think? Thumbs up or down (reference to a Roman emperor lol) for Roman numerals? http://nicholasacademy.com/pictures/romanchart.jpg

lnkddbz
Jul 20, 2010 at 5:16 a.m.
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Thanks to telling about the nice topic related to Roman numerals that any one can’t read easily if you don't have any idea about the Roman numerals. Here the author describes the possible way to rapidly read and write the Roman numerals. Thanks to discuss the article.
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wjbecky
Jun 5, 2010 at 6:27 a.m.
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They don't even use them in Rome, except the Vatican. It's strange that they didn't add the number (sixteen) after the roman.....

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