Time and again, you hear
or read an item featuring numbers, often written by professional writers, where
the presentation of numbers is illogical. Does it matter? Well, it does to me.
If language is to retain any meaning, we surely need to use it in a way which
makes sense, don't we? Unless, of course, you subscribe to the view that all art
is subjective and the artist must be allowed the freedom to convey whatever
mood, attitude or impression he or she intended. Even in this, however,
inaccurate language will cause a failure for such ambition, since the very
inaccuracy will necessarily distort the responses of readers.
e.g. 'An articulation of
elephant orifices undergoes an extraordinary undulation in determining the
acuity of the random prognostications of potential irradiation therapies.'
This sentence employs the
correct structural method and is grammatically sound. But it means absolutely
nothing, because the words used aren't the right ones to convey meaning.
Okay, so what's all this
got to do with the heading? Let me illustrate:
A weather report issues
you with daily temperatures and states that these will be in the early teens.
A
news report details the
antics of a politician and his claims for expenses, telling you that these were
in the late thousands.
A historian tells you that
he has discovered bones that date back to the low centuries of the
iron age.
A financier reports that
the interest on an attractive
bond issue will mature in the high twenties of
the century.
All the foregoing are
samples of items I've either heard or read. I'm sure you must've come across
this sort of careless use of numbers on many occasions. The rules are simple
enough to employ if you want to avoid joining the ranks of the ignorant or
careless.
If the item has to do with
degree or intensity; e.g. the heat in temperature, the amount spent in money,
etc., then you need to refer to the 'high' or 'low' teens, twenties, hundreds,
or whatever.
If the item relates to the
passing of time; e.g. the age of something or someone, the number of seconds,
minutes, hours, days, years taken, etc., then you need to use 'early' or 'late'
teens, forties, thousands, or whatever.
So, does it matter that
these writers/presenters mix up context in this way? Well, it indicates that
they're unaware of the real meanings of the terms they're using, and doesn't
that make you wonder if they know anything about what they're telling you?
Confidence in written/spoken material is surely something we should all aim
for, if what we have to report is going to carry the necessary weight for
credibility.
