Two small things I learned about common phrases lately which may or may not say something about the state of my brain. (I think it says that I think too fast and don't stop often enough to think about things)
1. Say you've lost something and are looking everywhere for it. And then you find it. And then someone asks you where you found it and you say, "in the last place I thought to look." I used to think this meant that it never occured to you to look in that particular place, but what it really means is exactly what it says: I found it there (wherever "there" is) and then didn't have to look anywhere else, so no matter where "there" is, the place you found is it the last place you thought to look. Get it?
2. When a weather person says with authority that the snowfall for the day has a 50% chance of being above average, we all ought to respond with a resounding "duh" rather than with admiration for the weatherperson's uncanny ability to forecast the weather. Because no matter what the snowfall, it will always be either below or above average (unless in a strange case it falls exactly on the average), because it's an average, not an exact number. Get it?
I didn't, but now I do.
1 comment:
My favorite useless phrase is "needless to say." I always want to interject, "Then why are you saying it?"
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