pedants, apply here

[baratron]

How do you pronounce the number 1175?

OK - now, how do you describe a place that is 1175 square feet? Is it "a 1175 square foot place", or "an 1175 square foot place"? The article depends on the pronunciation of 1175, doesn't it?

Fascinating discussion going on over at epi_lj's - not least of all because a lot of the commenters haven't actually realised what the problem is!

Comments

[erik]

I would take my pronunciation cue from the sentence, actually.
If I was writing the sentence, it would be "a space 1175 square feet in area."

Left to my own devices, though, it'd be "Eleven-seventy-five" for this context (that is, where I knew it was an ordinal number. If I suspected it was a random part number or something where the next one might just as well be "1F3J" or something, I'd say "One One Seven Five." Also if I was reading it over the phone I'd "spell it out" to avoid misunderstanding).

[kalikanzara.livejournal.com]

I'd also rewrite the sentence to avoid the uncertainty - "Nearly 1200 square feet!" comes to mind.