Question those statistical cliches

Steve Safran December 18th, 2006

Today is the busiest day for the post office all year. The Monday after Thanksgiving is the busiest online shopping day. What do these statements have in common? We don’t question them. But do you know the statements are accurate? We usually quote the AAA or some shopping organization or whatever. “Cyber Monday” may turn out not to be the busiest online shopping day after all. What if tomorrow turns out busier for the post office? Language Log takes a look at “The Spread of Bogus Numbers” and finds that questioning generally accepted statistical cliches usually determines out they are wrong. A recent story, for example found that British teens use 20 words for a third of what they say. This was supposed to be shocking - a deterioration for the Mother Tongue. Only one problem: the article about those uneducated teens used 20 words for 40% of what it said. We pretty much all do.