'Further war on 110% effort' blog discussion

Former_MSE_Lawrence

This is the discussion to link on the back of Martin's blog. Please read the blog first, as this discussion follows it.

Read Martin's 'Further war on 110% effort' Blog.

Click reply to discuss below.

Rosani

This has been a long pet peeve of mine too - the use of numbers over 100% to indicate 'extra' effort... and we're not alone. The writers of The Simpsons seem to agree, as evidenced by this dialogue in the episode "Homer at Bat"

(Burns hires a hypnotist to ensure the softball team wins the game...)
Hynpotist: You are all very good players...
Team: [entranced] We are all very good players...
Hypnotist: You will beat Shelbyville...
Team: We will beat Shelbyville...
Hypnotist: You will give one hundred and ten percent...
Team: That's impossible. No one can give more than one hundred percent.
By definition that is the most anyone can give...

ibm_2

I couldn't agree with you more.

Plus the Simpsons' quote is priceless!

spook

I think you're all 200% correct.

firebee

As much as I dislike the use of the phrase, I think you'll find that although you cannot give more than 100%, you can easily improve your effort by 300% (or 1 million% to quote the big SC) so the phrase, although grammatically incorrect, has always suggested to me that the person is being asked to give a 10% increase in their performance level, therefore 110%.

Mathematically it makes sense, percentage increase is pretty simple.

What REALLY annoys me is "illuminous" the highlighter is LUMINOUS yellow, not "ILLUMINOUS"!!!:mad:

MSE_Martin

firebee wrote: »

As much as I dislike the use of the phrase, I think you'll find that although you cannot give more than 100%, you can easily improve your effort by 300% (or 1 million% to quote the big SC) so the phrase, although grammatically incorrect, has always suggested to me that the person is being asked to give a 10% increase in their performance level, therefore 110%.

Mathematically it makes sense, percentage increase is pretty simple.

What REALLY annoys me is "illuminous" the highlighter is LUMINOUS yellow, not "ILLUMINOUS"!!!:mad:

You certainly can improve by 200% effort... yet that's not whats said... which is to give 110% - which isn't correct either mathematically or grammatically

jmarko

i am 120% behind you on this one, Martin!

...

...

i'll get me coat!

danellis

MSE_Martin wrote: »

You certainly can improve by 200% effort... yet that's not whats said... which is to give 110% - which isn't correct either mathematically or grammatically

A percentage is always a percentage of something. You're presuming that giving 110% effort means giving 110% of the maximum amount of effort possible, which is an entirely arbitrary metric anyway. It could equally mean "110% of the effort currently being given" or "110% of the average or expected level of effort". The latter makes the most sense to me.

therichnessinside

Personally, I see this as an example of the way the language changes..... New words get born, some words slip out of use - and connotations and meanings change. I used to get cross about the way the word 'literally' seems to have changed, but then it occurred to me that it was just the living language moving on, changing, and straightaway that changed my feelings! I would guess the whole 120 per cent etc thing is just another example. Latin doesn't change cos it's out of use, dead, but our alive and lively English is another story isn't it. Well, I think in this change of meaning Percentage thing you'd be fighting a losing battle - which in the long run is probably a Good Thing !

spook

Language might change over time but maths doesn't!

stationaryace

English is a living and changing language but just because it is flexible doesn't mean that people don't screw it up on occasion. on that basis there could be no prescribed right and wrong and not only would a whole load of teachers be out of a job but we would have a hard time understanding each other

therichnessinside- you sound like my linguistics lecturer and reminded me of the many times we covered this topic in seminars