Calculator Spelling

Hello to you too, calculator. How are you today?

It's a classic trick known by anyone who's ever been bored with a calculator: enter a number, turn the display upside-down, and read it like it's a set of letters. 0.7734 becomes "HELLO", 5318008 becomes "BOOBIES", 312217 becomes "LIZZIE"... the possibilities go on and on. In a few cases, you don't even need to turn it around — 80085 already looks like "BOOBS". This is particularly common for scientific calculators that feature hexadecimal numbers, as they use the letters A through F, which offers more flexibility.

This trick is frequently used as a Comedy Trope by having the numbers spell out something silly or inappropriate. Another common use is to simply spell out something significant. Occasionally, flipping a number will be the solution to a puzzle, or it'll be revealed that a seemingly-significant number or word was a Red Herring, with the flipped version being the one the characters actually wanted. The trope is occasionally Played for Drama by having a desperate character reduced to spelling out stuff on a calculator for some reason, such as a character dying of a mortal wound typing in a clue to the identity of the murderer.

All in all, turning numbers upside-down to form letters (or vice-versa) has been incorporated in many ways, in many different forms of media. Apparently a lot of people have been bored while in possession of calculators (and if you've ever taken a high school or college math class, you can't really blame them). However, this is moving towards Forgotten Trope territory, as many modern calculators used by students now have dot-matrix displays instead of the traditional seven-segment displays, and this gag does not work so well with those.

This trope is closely related to Leet Lingo and Letters 2 Numbers, where words and symbols are also swapped around. Compare LOL, 69 and 420, Blaze It for other funny numbers. See also 6 Is 9 for examples that don't involve calculators/liquid crystal displays, or don't feature attempts to spell out something. Note that that trope is more likely to be Played for Drama than this one.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Invoked in a filler episode of Case Closed. A competition marksman is being compelled to snipe a businessman by his girlfriend's kidnappers. After finding some kids playing close to where the thugs had him practice the act, he left behind a calculator with the number "3135134162." He's trying to communicate when and where those people want him to do the act: "2-9-1 Heisei E" or the 1pm, February 9 departure of the Heisei Express train.
• Hell Girl premiered in Animax Asia in October 2006 at 11:34 PM ("HELL" upside-down on a calculator).

Comic Books

• In the Round Robin comic DC Challenge a Cliffhanger clue - a series of numbers◊ - in the first issue was never properly resolved until the penultimate issue: add them all up and turn the calculator upside-down, it spells out the name ELI ELLIS, a minor character in the first issue. If the letter column is to be believed, several readers figured it out; but some of those didn't notice the character named Eli Ellis in issue #1 so they still didn't know who he was.
• Played for Drama in the "World Against S" storyline in Superman when Jimmy is trying to learn the significance of the military's Area 7734, and Steve Lombard points out that it's "hELL" upside down.

Film — Animation

• The LEGO Batman Movie: The Calculator alludes to this trope by having "07734" printed on his helmet's visor, which spells "hello" if viewed upside-down. Zigzagged as it also displays "OUCH" when Batman attacks him, which doesn't appear to use any numbers.

Film — Live-Action

• While Hancock is buying booze at the liquor store, the cashier is being robbed, with one armed thug crouched below the counter. In a desperate effort to call discretely for help, the cashier rings up Hancock's purchases at $91.10, which Hancock calls "highway robbery." The cashier smartly points to the display, obscuring the zero with one finger, showing only 91.1. Though an alcoholic jerkass at this point, Hancock is still savvy enough to get the message: call 9-1-1. However, Hancock supplies aid his way, woe betide the robbers.

Jokes

• An old joke: 8424 Arabs are fighting 8424 Israelis on a territory of 337 square kilometers. Who comes out the winner? Answer: 8424*8424+337^2 = 71077345
• There was a girl who was 13. (Type it in.) Her boobs were size 84. She wanted them to be 45. The doctor said "Oh" (type 0), "take 2 pills" (type 2). But she took 4 (multiply by 4). And ended up: (Press =, and turn the calculator upside down. You should see 55378008 — BOOBLESS.)
  • Another variant with the same answer: There once was a lady who had 69 (type it in) boobs, and that was too, too, too (type 222) much, so she went to 51st Street (type 51) to see Doctor X (multiplied by). 8 hours later (multiply by 8), she was... 55378008 (BOOBLESS).
• Here's one that only works on a calculator with hexadecimal mode, and does not involve turning the calculator upside down: Three men go into a cafe. (Type 3CAFE.) They have sex (divide by 6, and press =). Calculator displays A1D5.
• Tagalog joke: 10 years ago (type "10"), when I was 14 years old (type "14") in 1970 (type "70", making the result "101470"), my girlfriend and I broke up (divide 101470 by 2) because of (turn around the calculator) SELOS ("jealousy").

Literature

• Played for Drama in an Encyclopedia Brown case. A boy who was always playing around with his calculator has been kidnapped and his calculator has the number 577345 on the display. Encyclopedia realizes that this spells "shells" when looked at upside down, which leads them to the kidnapper, who had a booth selling shells.
• Used without an actual calculator in the Warhammer novel Beasts in Velvet. One of the characters gets fatally stabbed but sees the killer. When he is found, his body is stuck in a barrel, with his dying message scrawled on the inside of the lid. It looks like a string of numbers that don't make sense until the climax, where the heroes realize they have read it upside down.
• In Mr. Benedict's Book of Perplexing Puzzles, Elusive Enigmas, and Curious Conundrums, one puzzle requires you to type a set of co-ordinates (32°17'39") into a calculator and turn it upside-down to get the solution, "Belize". You don't even need your own calculator for this, as an exploding calculator in a previous page's illustration has the same set of numbers on its screen.

Live-Action TV

• In one episode of The Big Bang Theory, Raj maintains that 5,318,008 is the best number specifically because it spells "boobies" when turned upside down on a calculator.
• One episode of Extras had Darren Lamb being rather amused that he could spell out the word "BOOBS" (IE: 50080 upside-down) on a calculator.
• In Inside No. 9 episode "A Random Act of Kindness", the man from the future assumes the name "Bob" which he took from the upside-down barcode digits 909 he found on a cereal box.
• Look Around You: Shows up when presenting a modern snowman: batteries for eyes, radio antenna for a nose, and a calculator reading "HELLO" for a mouth.
• Lucifer (2016): Chloe and Linda discover the safe hidden in Lucifer's bedroom and start trying to work out the lock code. Linda suggests 8-0-0-8 because it looks like "Boob" and fits Lucifer's sense of humor. It doesn't work and they never find the correct code.
• In an episode of Matlock, a guy murdered at a TV station cues up a tape to a place that shows Matlock's client. Matlock eventually realizes that the LED counter reads 337, reading upside down as 'Lee', the name of the real killer.
• One episode of the 1999 miniseries The Timekeepers Of The Millennium, (which featured a pair of muppets named Cogs and Sprinx trying to recover crystals to reactivate the "great clock" in time for the new millennium) had them accidentally displace a scientist, who built a Humongous Mecha capable of calculating huge numbers, which Cogs tries to outwit with ever larger calculations. Sphrinx challenges him to come up with a calculation that results in the number 5318008, then has him turn it upside down to spell "boobies". Lacking a sense of humour, this causes it to self-destruct.
• White Rabbit Project: 80085 ("boobs") appears in the Six Million Dollar Man spoof from "Where's My Hoverboard?"
• In the episode "Blood" from The X-Files, the guy who suffers from blood phobia is already freaked out, but slips even more when a small calculator drops onto the floor and he then reads "blood". In this episode, more machines seem to communicate with him and other victims.

Magazines

• Cracked Magazine once had an article that played with this concept. For example — Mary wanted something sweet for her birthday, so John gave her a box of ____ and told her to wait a week. (81 x 81 - 1223). The answer: 5338, or "Bees".

Music

• Eminem: The pinball-inspired cover of the Greatest Hits Album Curtain Call 2 features the four scores 558,008 (BOOBSS — boobs), 771,534 (HESILL — he's ill), 451,734 (HELISH — hellish) and 104,558 (after the upper line of the 8 burned out: ASSHOL — asshole).
• Parodied by Fraktus and their (alleged) debut album, 7353=057. Upside-down, it is supposed to read "LSD=ESEL" ("LSD=DONKEY"), an anti-drug message, but even within the band, it is criticized as actually reading "LSO=ESEL".
• Gorillaz: When Murdoc was in a Mexican prison for counterfeiting, his prisoner number was 318008:999 (666: BOOBIES). That alone helped keep his spirits up long enough to escape.
• The Hollies released an album called 5317704 (HOLLIES) — a Self-Titled Album with a twist.
• The MC Frontalot song "80085" (BOOBS) is a nostalgic retelling of his high-school algebra days.
• Sabaton's Heavy Meta song "7734" spells "hell" in calculator spelling. This, along with various other instances of numerology in the lyrics, is meant as a parody of those who equate metal to Satanism.

Video Games

• In Danganronpa: Ultra Despair Girls, one puzzle requires inputting a four-digit code and observing the area shows the structures are spelling "hell", and a upside down view shows it as "7734".
• Dreams: In "LOCK", a user-created puzzle game, the last step of solving two of the puzzles is to change a number to the word that it would be when viewed upside down on a calculator.
• Duolingo: The Dutch course features the sentence "What does 8008 look like on a calculator?" Thankfully, you're only required to translate the question, not give the answer "BOOB".
• Henry Stickmin Series: In Stealing The Diamond on the "Just Plain Epic" route, one of the options drops a calculator in front of Henry which types into itself "1337" which amuses Henry. Then it divides by zero.
• Miasma Chronicles: This is the answer to a keypad puzzle. The door is to the office of a urologist, who has scratched P and N on the display. The code is P3N15.
• Cosmo from Moshi Monsters is a creature resembling a calculator. When you click on him, he types, "O.7734", then stands on his head to make it read "HELLO" and then stands back up and says, "Hello!".
• NEO: The World Ends with You: During the last chapter local Mad Mathematician Sho Minamimoto greets Coco with the phrase "Zero seven seven three four", meaning "HELLO". The latter is understandably puzzled by it.
• In an early portion of Madarame's Palace in Persona 5, you'll have to input a numerical code to unlock a door. You learn of the code by overhearing the Palace Shadows talking about it — The first guard says it's "hello", only to then clarify that it's a mnemonic to help remember the code by typing it into a calculator upside-down.
• Professor Layton and the Unwound Future has a puzzle where the only clues are a calculator and a note that says "101 X 5". The solution is that the result of the calculation, 505, looks like SOS. The trope is downplayed, as you don't even have to turn the calculator upside-down to see it.
• In Riddle School, the janitor wars a name tag thatlooks as though it reads "BOB". What it actually says is "808".
• In Riddle School 3, Phil has to find the combination for Richy's locker. When he finds it, it says "BLOBBLES". Of course, it's actually 53788078 upside-down.
• In Riddle Transfer, Phred tells Phil that the passcode to his cell door is "snoz" and hands him a slip of paper with the passcode written on it as proof. The actual passcode is 51702.
• In Riddle Transfer 2, in the Portal Room, Phil finds a piece of paper that reads "WOOF", with a picture of a dog on it. Rotating it 90 degrees anticlockwise reveals it to be the portal activation passcode: 4003 written vertically.
• Telltale's Sam & Max: Freelance Police series, Episode 204 (Chariots of the Dogs): When Sam inspects the keypad for the door, Max tells him to "make it say BOOBIES". The code turns out to be 5318008, "BOOBIES" upside-down. Strange Minds Think Alike, apparently.
• In Super Mario 64: Last Impact, the desk version of the Gloomy Ambience level has an Easter Egg in that typing out "5318008" (BOOBIES) on the functional calculator produces a Boo laugh.
• In Trespasser, a keycode is written on a wall: The words Big LIE, if flipped upside down give you the numbers 317618.
• In Helldivers, the Terminids rapidly decompose into oil when killed. Naturally, they were captured and sent to E-710 farms.

Web Animation

• Homestar Runner:
  • A Strong Bad E-mail, "what i want," has a homemade Decemberween gift consisting of a seashell with office supplies glued to it, including a calculator with "040404" ("HO HO HO") displayed.
  • In the Strong Bad E-mail "technology", Strong Bad uses solar calculators as an example of "wireless" technology that is the wave of the future, and demonstrates by making a calculator say "OBOE SHOES" when he turns it upside down.
  • Email "theme song" parodies it with a calculator in a fake commercial that simply shows "BUTT X 2" upside down.

Web Comics

• Cyanide and Happiness: In this strip, a news presenter announces that a nuclear bomb has killed more than five million people, with a counter displaying the text "5138008 DEAD". Then the sign rotates and the presenter is amused at how it spells out "BOOBIES".
• In Dinosaur Comics, T-Rex's investment goal is to have 58,008 dollars in his bank account, so that when he reads his statement upside-down, it says "BOOBS".
• IDGet. In one strip, Kevin says he wishes he could appear on Jeopardy! just so he can wager $0.7734 in the final round; when IDGet asks why, we're then treated to an Imagine Spot, where Kevin looks down at his screen and says, "Why, hello to you too!"
• In a strip of The Petri Dish, Thaddeus does a complex equation on his calculator because the answer is "58008", which spells "BOOBS".
• Shutterbug Follies: Bee is trapped in the apartment of a killer, and he can override the voice on her cellphone. So she sends a numerical message to a cabbie's pager...338 505. It takes him dropping the pager and picking it up upside down to get the idea.
• In Skin Horse, Numen communicates in calculator speak, such as by saying "14" for "hi".
• Spiked Math: In "God vs. Satan", Satan tricks God into making a calculation that results in 7734 (HELL). However, a bonus comic has God get revenge by making Satan calculate 537818 (BIBLES).

Websites

• Cracked, when covering a Teen Genius, points out that when they were the same age they were spelling "BOOBLESS" (55378008) on their calculator for giggles.
• Something Awful: In an article that claims to be the personal log of a Cyberdyne Systems factory robot:
  "I do not have a name, but my serial number is 580087734. Skynet prefers to address me as "HELLBOOBS" when we are communicating. I calculate a 99.6% that this is related to my serial number. ...My second-best friend is my coworker 537043807. Skynet refers to my friend as "LOBEHOLES."
• SF Debris: In his review of "Blood" from The X-Files, Chuck jokes that the guy is freaked because his calculators spells "BLOOD". Normally it only spells "BOOBIES".

Web Video

• Aliensrock: The thumbnails of his The Devil's Calculator videos use a calculator to spell out things like "boobs" (80085) and "hello" (0.7734 upside-down).
• Tom Scott has a video about the limitations of displaying text on seven-segment displays, and working out the longest word you can write within those limitations. Then in his pinned comment below the video, he asks "Bonus question: what's the longest word you can spell just by turning a calculator upside-down?" For English words, it's a tie between bibliologies (531907017818) and glossologies (531907055079), both 12 letters.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series Season 0 Episode 3: According to Yugi, Tristan learned how to type "BOOBIE" in a calculator and later "BOOB".
  Tristan: "I am a sorcerer!"

Western Animation

• Aqua Teen Hunger Force: In "Time Machine", Shake steals Frylock's machine and uses it to travel to the year '8008', but actually teleports to Carl's house and shows off to Carl what he spelled before heading back to the house with the numbers '7734' after trying to spell "turd" with the device.
• Arthur: In the season 11 episode, "Brain's Shocking Secret", Binky learns to spell "hello" with a calculator upside down with the numbers "07734".
• Invoked (albeit sans calculator) in the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Riddler's Reform," where the Riddler assigns the apparently arbitrary number "31753701" to a riddle during a TV commercial. Batman initially deduces that the numbers correspond to atlas coordinates, leading him to the First National Bank, until he realizes that the Riddler flipped the board upside down, turning the number into "10 LESLIE", the actual address of Riddler's next planned crime.
• In one episode of Family Guy, Quagmire is staying with the Griffins for a while and he teaches Chris the "8008" number.
  Chris: What if we get another calculator and put them together?
  Quagmire: Yes. Yes! Find one! Yes!
• Futurama. The crew is sent to destroy a giant ball of garbage heading directly toward the Earth with an explosive set to detonate after 25 minutes. Once they activate it, the digital timer counts down "25:00...15:00...05:00...6h:00" to the crew's surprise. The reason? The timer was upside down and thus set to 52 seconds.
• Kamp Koral: In "Helter Shelter", Sandy spells "SHELL-O" on a calculator to try to impress the jocks.

• School's Out! The Musical: When Flappy Bob says "I'm so conflicted" and chooses the calculator between it and the arcade machine in "Where Is the Fun?", he writes the numbers "00734" on it, which become "HELLO" when it's turned upside down.
• The Simpsons:
  • Springfield's zip code is 80085. Moe chose to live there because the numbers spelled "BOOBS" on a calculator.
  • In "Today I Am a Clown", one of the topics Homer and his friends discuss on his talk show is "dirty words you can spell on your calculator". Moe shows an upside-down calculator that says "BOOBS".
• The short "The Adventures of Compuhorse and Calcupony" from Spliced: Calcupony is only able to speak in words that the numbers on calculators make upside down.
  Calcupony: HELLO!
  Calcupony: IGLOO!
  Calcupony: GOGGLES!
• SpongeBob SquarePants
  • When Karen gets turned into a calculator in "Goo Goo Gas", she displays the "hELLO" trick across her screen.
  • In "Karen's Baby", Karen's new baby Chip starts off as a calculator. When Chip starts crying, she quiets him by typing "4445" then turns it upside down, which says "Shhh".
• "0.7734" makes an appearance in Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones? when Jones is trying to tutor classmate Shannon in math.

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