Sometimes, I could just spit. Most recently, when reading Kruiser’s comment on Trump’s surge in support among Black men (not “males” — another pet peeve), young Stephen made the following statement:
“Yes, the numbers are small, but doubling up is better than doubling down.”
…which makes no fucking sense at all, does it? I know why he said it that way, and it’s a cute juxtaposition, but Kruiser just comes off as illiterate when he utters such mumbo-jumbo.
For the benefit of good grammar: “doubling” by definition is growth — i.e. “up” — so “doubling up” is redundant. Next: “doubling down” is a gambling term — i.e. not appropriate in this context. What Kruiser meant to say was that in terms of Trump’s popularity among Kanyes, going up is better than going down, and the correct expression of which is quite simple:
“Doubling is better than halving.”
Sometimes I wonder why I bother…
I’m glad I’m not the only one who wants to throw something at the TV whenever a commercial announces that “Diet shitpaste has five times fewer calories than regular shitpaste!” It’s gotten to the point where my wife just rolls her eyes because she knows I’ll yell “What does five times fewer MEAN?”
I shudder to think how many gubmint edjukated flunkies will confuse “have” with “halve”.
And do NOT get me started about the improper use of “less” when “fewer” would be correct. Or the data/datum conundrum, especially in the “tech” community.
– Brad
Are you sure he wasn’t punning off Vox Day’s well known truisms about SJWs?
My pet-peeve is when some media idiot says that something is “10-times less”, or to that effect.