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Re:Gerät 32620: the machine that powered numerous number sta... by NelsonMinar on Tuesday September 01, 2020 @05:37PM (#24347398)
The "zwo" for 2 also stuck out. It's a common variant but my understanding is it's not the most proper word. As someone else said, maybe partly chose for phonetic distinctness.
Re:Gerät 32620: the machine that powered numerous number sta... by DasIch on Tuesday September 01, 2020 @06:20PM (#24347804)
It's indeed used for phonetic distinctness.

The German word for 2 is "zwei", which is relatively close to and even rhymes with the word for 3 "drei". "Zwo" is used to make it easier to distinguish the two.

Re:Gerät 32620: the machine that powered numerous number sta... by ahartmetz on Tuesday September 01, 2020 @06:50PM (#24348047)
"Fünnef" is / was(?) also used on radio for phonetic distinctness. In English there are "tree" and "niner".