"Negative" versus "Minus" As a math educator, do you think it is appropriate to insist that students say "negative $0.8$" and
not "minus $0.8$" to denote $-0.8$?
The so called "textbook answer" regarding this question reads:
A number and its opposite are called additive inverses of each other because their sum is zero, the identity element for addition. Thus, the numeral $-5$ can be read "negative five," "the opposite of five," or "the additive inverse of five."
This question involves two separate, but related issues; the first is discussed at an elementary level here. While the second, and more advanced, issue is discussed here. I also found this concerning use in elementary education.
I recently found an excellent historical/cultural perspective on What's so baffling about negative numbers? written by a Fields medalist.

I have almost always said, "minus."  What is interesting here is that the - operator has two guises. It is an infix binary operator (as in $5 - 3$) and it is a prefix unary operator, as in $-7$.  
The word "negative" has the liability of an extra syllable.  Occasionally, I do find myself saying "negative 3" though.   
This seems to me to be a distinction without a huge difference.    
