< and > Don't Eat Anything

I was told something as a young rapscallious youth, something hideous, something incomplete, and just plain negligent.

They told me that the greater than and less than signs, "Eat" the larger number." While it may be true, that the big end of the symbol always points to the larger number, how is this helpful? Isn't it easier to know that it has a name, and that the numbers must be oriented accordingly?

It's all about the name, I tell you.

< is always called less than. If you see that symbol and you say anything other than less than, you're wrong. Geez, it's even shaped like an L which could remind you of its name if you forget.

> is always greater than. Al-freaking-ways greater than.

And what about when you aren't using numbers? X < Y. I want to know that X is less than Y, not that something is eating something else, so the one not being eaten must be less than the one which is being eaten, unless the symbol is anorexic in which case it is actually a thinner minus sign.

It's just so much better to say, "Oh, that symbol reads Less Than."

So here's my plea: Teachers, stop telling kids that they eat numbers. Symbols don't eat crap, they're symbols. If you don't know which number is larger or smaller than another number by looking at it and using the symbol, analogies to alligators or other carnivores won't solve that level of retardation.