Three hundred and one

My teachers growing up were always quick to correct me when I said "and" in numbers like "four-hundred and twenty" or "three-hundred and one".  Very carefully they instilled this fear that people might confuse the "and" to mean a decimal point, and that the proper construction is "four-hundred twenty" or "three-hundred one".

But those teachers are dead (probably) and I can't think of any case where anyone would assume I'm talking about decimals.

Bib: Have you seen "One Hundred and One Dalmatians"?
Bub: You mean, one hundred dalmatians and a tenth of a dalmatian?
Bib: (Blank stare.)

That's a lousy example, but you get my point. For years I obeyed and advanced the prevailing orthodoxy in order to thwart a problem that never was. Like a sheep. Who cares if you say 'and'?

That is why, today, on post three-hundred and one, I bleat no more. At the expense of sounding uneducated, I'm jamming in that "and" and I'm proud of it. Three hundred and one posts. Eat it, language.

(Oh yeah, and congratulations to me.)