Nelson Mandela question

[Here's Fanny!]

How come they always refer to the prisoner number as "Four double six six four" instead of "Four triple six four"?

That seems more efficient and makes more sense.

[gsabc]

How come they always refer to the prisoner number as "Four double six six four" instead of "Four triple six four"?

That seems more efficient and makes more sense.

Maybe they only needed the two pairs and not the full house for Yahtzee ...

[andrewjackson]

How come they always refer to the prisoner number as "Four double six six four" instead of "Four triple six four"?

That seems more efficient and makes more sense.

Looks like his prisoner number was 466/64. He being prisoner #466 in 1964 at Robben Island. The number has been simplified to 46664 for his AIDS work but the old pronunciation has hung on.

The Brits, and their Empire, use the "double" and "treble" much more than Americans do. Americans would have said it as "four sixty-six, sixty four" anyway.

[Weyoun]

I'll be at Robben Island next week, and I'll ask then.

(Seriously).