The Language Log “The odds of X are large”:likely or unlikely?” was fun.

So the term “the odds” is on the rise. Oh dear. I share the author’s suspicion that few using the term share any serious common understanding of probability.

We underestimate the extent to which contextual meanings facilitate our modern shortcut language. Take the term “OK”. The first time we attached a big farm implement to the back of the tractor, we discovered serious linguistic ambiguity when it turned out that “OK” meant “GO” to one person, and “STOP!” to another, with both a bit uncertain whether it also might mean “Continue as you were”.

And then, this whole deal about the white writing on black background on “Popular Linguistics” It is really rather annoying on a computer screen. But, have you noticed that on those tiny little buttons on our electronics, with their tiny little writing, white on dark black is the only chance we have of reading the script. Now, of course, some marketing person has decided that pale gray is trendier, so we get white writing on pale gray background which is, of course, hopeless.

Just as “Thousand to One” might equally be interpreted as long odds or short ones, the absence of context disables reason.

Not much space for context in a twitter…

Maybe THAT’s the problem with this country. As Mr Liberman says in “The odds of X are large…” article: “For, if interpreters are confused about what it is they are interpreting, the odds of their producing incoherence are enormous.”

Boy Howdy. Isn’t that the truth.