Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Okay, I guess I'm the only one who thought that was funny

Conversation in class, re: proof-reading

A: This can't be right, it says the infant mortality of X is 130%.

B: Clearly, you're limited by a pretty hard ceiling of only every single one of your children dying.

Me: Well, you could always import kids from somewhere else and kill them, too.

(horrified stares, mouths agape)

Me: I, uh, shouldn't talk. With words.

2 comments:

Canajun said...

Well then I'm number two.
Sometimes the only way to make the point is stupid humour - and nothing deserves it more than the misuse of statistics in every day reporting. If I hear "... increases your chances of dying by X%" one more time I'll scream. Your chance of dying is, and always has been, exactly 100%. No one gets out alive.
Now if you want to talk about your chances of dying by a certain age, or from a specific disease, then fine, but that isn't how the stats are used and reported.
Rant over - pet peeve!

Anonymous said...

I thought that was pretty damn funny.