Why does everyone call it "9/11"?

[tuvor]

If I said "12/7" to you, would you know I was talking about the invasion at Pearl Harbor? Well, not right away, I'm sure.

September 11 is a date, not an event.

I prefer to use "the attack on the World Trade Center". After all, that's what happened.

So, is it intentional, or did it evolve naturally to say "nine-eleven"?

Just wondering.

[DireStrike]

1. Its easier...

Especially when you plan to refer to it 900 times in every speech.

[Gay Ranger]

2. Calling it 9/13 would just seem silly. N/T

[Bluebear]

3. DimSon says "September theee eleventh" n/t

[eleonora]

4. the media

every newscast today is up to the second. "The Attack of the World Trade Center and Pentagon" is just too long to say, 9/11 is so much shorter.

[susanna]

20. I'll take it a bit further.

DELETED for user's own reasons.

[buddysmellgood]

5. Well, it wasn't just the towers. Bush fired those missiles at the Pentagon

and there was the other plane in the field. That's kind of a mouthful.

[mcscajun]

6. No one says 12/7, but many older folks still use December 7th

...and most know what they mean by it. We didn't 'do digital' in the 50s and 60s; dates were still analog.

"9/11" as a reference happened almost immediately and spread like wildfire. I don't think it was intentional.

[NightTrain]

7. "The attack on the World Trade Center?" What about the Pentagon?

Or the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania? Why is it that people only want to remember the New York part of the 9/11 attacks? :wtf:

[tuvor]

17. I see what you're saying.

I could have worded it better, I guess. But by the same token, a lot of other things happened on "9/11". Like I said before, a date is not quite an event, so it got me wondering.

[MercutioATC]

8. Because "The attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and a field

in Pennsylvania" is a little wordy?

[jdj]

10. So how many people believe FDR knew in advance about 12/7?

I read recently that some people point to the fact that he had the aircraft carriers removed as proof that he knew an attack was imminent.

[MercutioATC]

11. Plenty. There's evidence that refutes it, though.

When told about the attacks, FDR initially responded "You're talking about the Phillipines, right?" or something to that effect.

[unpossibles]

12. well...

Bullsh said he watched the first plane hit the tower on TV that morning, so the President's remarks prove nothing, do they? If he were aware of the attack, he was not going to admit that, obviously.

[MercutioATC]

14. Plenty of strange claims were made that day (and in the following days)...

Remember the Cessna that hit the WTC and the truck bomb at the Pentagon?


I understand why it looks suspicious, but I'm not reading too much into it.

[RafterMan]

21. A friend of mine is a life-long Republican

because he belives Pearl Harbor was LIHOP.

[Nikepallas]

9. I can see what you are saying but My Aunt who was around during WW2

kind of referred to Pearl Harbor as Black December. I think because it is so "fresh" (lack of a better word) in our minds it seems that the date is just etched in everyones mind.

Generations like my Niece who is 3 will probably refer to it as the attack on the World Trade Center but for us who in a sense lived it all we need to do is give the numbers.


Just my thoughts

[selmo7]

13. because 911

is also what you phone when there is an emergency.

Probably no accident the date is the same.

???

[tjdee]

15. Jackass Larry Kudlow used to call it "9-1-1". Maybe still does.

That's even worse. We know it happened on the ELEVENTH, not the one-oneth. :eyes:

[mattclearing]

16. It's a sick joke...the American call number for "Emergency"

Everyone already associated it with something bad happening, so it was rather unfortunately synergistic.

[Al-CIAda]

18. I prefer

"I prefer to use "the attack on the World Trade Center". After all, that's what happened."

I prefer to call it an inside job. After all, that's what happened.

[American Tragedy]

19. Because 911 is the emergency call number

I remember somebody in my class that morning mentioned the date, and we immediately drew the association. Very appropriate, too.

I don't think 12/7 has such an obvious connotation with anything in particular.

[selmo7]

25. we think alike

see post #13 :-)

[HEyHEY]

22. every tradgedy needs a ttitle

[Ron Green]

23. It's a brand name... Americans believe in brand names. Check out CNN and

their silly "Turning the Tide" brand for their crappy recycled Tsunami coverage.

[Insider]

24. bingo

branding.

[Princess Turandot]

26. I think it just became the name by default..

here in NYC, we were calling it 'the attack' the first few days..then it was September 11th..then it was 9-11..I'm not sure why the WTC property was suddenly called Ground Zero. I can conjecture as to why, but although I do say 9-11, I still refer to the area as the World Trade Center.

Interestingly, I was on a civil jury last November, when one of the witnesses referred to his calling an ambulance for an injured party, and he said "I called 9-11". He immediately then said, "excuse me,
I meant I called 9-1-1." (In NYC, the emergency 911 number was usually pronounced 9-1-1 to begin with, because it's a phone number, where most people say the digits separately.)

[MADem]

29. What is odd is that one building that was hit

...The Pentagon, actually HAD a ground zero. That's what the center courtyard is called, they even have a Ground Zero Cafe in the middle there, with tables and chairs. It goes back to the Cold War, when everyone figured that was Target Number One in the Russkie playbook.

[Stirk]

27. Recent fad. Remember when the movie "Independence Day" was

called "ID4"? I think our culture is suffering from an inability to separate reality from television and cinematic soma.

[RafterMan]

28. So what do you think it should be called?

[Stirk]

32. How about

Revenge of the Mujahadeen Part 1: Bin Laden Strikes Back?

Or 3-99. It's got a dada kind of appeal.

[gandalf]

30. "the attack on the World Trade Center"? Which one? 1993?

9/11 is more precise, as it hints to the facts that there was more on 9/11 than only the attack on the WTC.

[Swamp Rat]

31. Who knows, but I knew exactly what you were talking about when I saw

this thread. It has entered the lexicon and it will be used for a long long time. :)

[SweetLeftFoot]

33. Given

to everybody else in the world 9/11 is the 9th day of November, its particularly stupid.

[HamdenRice]

34. Here in NYC -- strange coincidences about the numbers 9/11

I think one of the reasons 9/11 stuck was that in traumatized NYC a lot of people were talking about the weird numerological coincidences of the date. I don't remember all of them. Of course, as several have pointed out, 9-11 was also the emergency call number.

Also, the towers themselves looked like a giant 11. Also, 9+1+1 = 11. People went on and one about the numbers, maybe out of shock, and that's part of why the date stuck.

[Lexingtonian]

35. Marketing

The Seven-Eleven food store chain tried to get some free publicity out of the events. It didn't work out as well as they had hoped.