One hundred and ten percent..!

[MrGeresHamster]

AIBU that my skin crawls everytime I hear someone say 'one thousand percent', 'one hundred and ten percent' and all other impossible use of mathematical percentages...?

Never claimed to be perfect tethers

...although that was comically bad spelling I will admit.

To sleep... Zzzzzz Zzzzz Zzzzz

YANBU - drives me bananas & makes me think 'dickhead!'

Sorry MrGeres. If it's any consolation, I hate myself for what I've become

There is an irony when posters get annoyed at 110% when used in context where it isn't actually possible. And then decorate their point by saying 'it makes my teeth itch' (not at all possibly).....or 'it makes my skin crawl' (to where exactly?)

IMO the majority of people saying "I gave it 150%" know perfectly well that this is literally impossible

Sadly, you are incorrect, Dilys. When I was appointing staff 15 years ago, I whittled the applicants down by rejecting all those without degrees (I know - horrid, but pragmatic) and without decent GSEs in Maths & English. Then I threw out all the ones with elementary spellos and bad grammar. It was a negotiating job - it was essential to be able to work out roughly accurate figures on the go - so I asked them to do some simple arithmetic. Out of ten interviewees, there would only be two who showed a basic grasp of percentages: every ... single ... time. I mean basic! One girl got the job because she was the only one out of the ten who could tell me 45% of 200!

I've got to say all my trainees were fantastic. I was proud of them :) What a pity, though, that they required arithmetic training before fulfilling their potential.

I try to talk clients out of using percentages in their promotions, on the obvious grounds that most people don't understand them. Most of them insist ... despite the fact that at least two of them can't do percentages themselves. I'm waiting for someone to instruct me on a 110% discount

Still, you gotta go with figures of speech. I say "110%" when I know it's impossible. I try to keep my pedantry quiet, in general

Mucho lol, tethers and Pan

YANBU!

It annoys me too. The other thing that makes me want to scream at the tv is the weather forcast. In fact, I am off to start a thread in chat it annoys me so much!

So how come figures like 2.4 babies are born per family can be given. To me you can not get a 0.6 of a person.Some stats don't make sense

That's because they are using a mean, if they used a mode it would be more accurate, but lots of people can only cope with a mean.

I once spent an hour screaming at GMTV (before deciding it was useless) because they kept repeating that 50% of hospitals are below average on some government report.

I also agree with the 'very unique' and 'myself'. Myself is not a posh or business version of me, it is a different word, you are just showing you do not know how your own language works.

thepan my auntie gets itchy teeth! It is definately possible even though I can't work out how

Itchy teeth are horrible - is it something to do with the nerve inside? I used to get it, and my dad does.

I am 115% sure that is a load of old bollocks. It's something to do with imagination....

It's the same thing as sensitive teeth, pan, I'm pretty sure they're real.

In the Olympics there was an athelete, who at one point was also a footballer
He apparently gave 100% effort to both sports
As effort (time, training etc) is finite I'm pretty sure it's impossible to do this
Yanbu

I once spent an hour screaming at GMTV (before deciding it was useless) because they kept repeating that 50% of hospitals are below average on some government report.

sashh, a sales company I once worked for decided to bring in a reward/disciplinary system based purely on the average/50% idea - so you got more 'points' the further above the 50% you were (which eventually would culminate in a bonus if you got enough points) and you got a talking to if you were below the 50%.

Might have originated from a good idea once upon a time but it was based solely on the performance in that office, and they had the gall to encourage the sales staff that they should be performing better and should all be aiming to get into the above average 'side'. Even when I brought it up with management they honestly couldn't see what the problem was and were genuinely bemused why so many people kept falling below average (half the sales staff in fact ). Was so glad I wasn't working on sales myself! They were an American company though (takes racist pants off again). People who have to use percentages in everyday life and can't get them right drive me mental!

Depends on the context.

If you mean someone saying "I've given 110%" when asked how much effort they've put in, then YANBU.

That really winds me up too. How can someone give 10% more than they've actually got? It may just be exaggeration, but given the mathematical impossibility, it just makes me want to throw something at them.

But saying something like "The price of x in the shops has risen by 110%" is fine. Because that's actually possible.

I'm so glad this thread is here. It irritates me to the end of earth and back! Totally impossible to give 110% of yourself.

GRRRR!!

It's very sneeky how advertisers and others use stats ... some I've noticed

50% MORE free !

Is less than 50% free ( I think I'm right there ? )

And somewhere I saw 100% used as in double but to give the impression of a massive improvement eg 100% more children used our swimming pool last summer (Good but it could be more than 100% ie 3x 4x OR 5x as many children) Sometimes a 100% improvement on something isn't that impressive, especially where numbers were initially very disappointing.

(I'm sure there will be politicians and advertisers taking note as they realise this statistical trick hasn't been fully exploited !)

Doesn't bother me,it's just an exaggeration.

Itchy teeth and crawling skin wind me up more.

Prince William and Prince Harry both used 'myself' several times in that interview with Sue Barker the other day.

If I'd paid all that money to send them to Eton I'd demand a refund.

But i think you can have more than 100% can't you?

No. Not of yourself.

If an identical twin runs a marathon and forces their twin to do the same can they say they've given 200%?

So, another ( slightly tangential) example ...

Say one year a school gets 1 child into Oxbridge, and the next year 2 children gain a place ... they can say there was a 100% increase in the number of children gaining an Oxbridge place, an 100% improvement etc. etc.

(This trick is most likely to work well where very low numbers are involved )

Yes it makes me stabby. My 11 year old says it to wind me up before running away very fast. If he can understand why its wrong, why can't adults on Jeremy Kyle.