# I feel a 100% better than yesterday...ahh what?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 10, 2019, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-feel-a-100-better-than-yesterday-ahh-what/835331 "2019-06-10T20:58:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![glennwith2ns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@glennwith2ns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glennwith2ns)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-feel-a-100-better-than-yesterday-ahh-what/835331/1 "2019-06-10T20:58:37Z")
So if someone says this to you, do you take it to mean they feel twice as good as yesterday(200%?) or that they feel back to normal? Perhaps this is just an incorrect way of expressing the way they are feeling. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-feel-a-100-better-than-yesterday-ahh-what/835331/2 "2019-06-10T21:02:51Z")
I interpret it as meaning back to full capacity. No, it’s not consistent with other uses of percentages, but people are inconsistent sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-feel-a-100-better-than-yesterday-ahh-what/835331/3 "2019-06-10T21:03:04Z")
They felt crappy yesterday, they feel better today. They aren’t trying to convey anything meaningful in terms of percentages. It’s a perfectly correct manner of idiomatic expression. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-feel-a-100-better-than-yesterday-ahh-what/835331/4 "2019-06-10T21:09:52Z")
I feel 100% better after I quit trying to give %110. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-feel-a-100-better-than-yesterday-ahh-what/835331/5 "2019-06-10T21:19:03Z")
As other’s have said, I’d interpret this to me they are 100% back to normal. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-feel-a-100-better-than-yesterday-ahh-what/835331/6 "2019-06-10T21:39:49Z")
I’d always take people at their word, unless I ask for details and they contradict or expand on what they said. So if someone said “100% better”, then they’re twice as good as yesterday. If not, I would hope they’d find another way to say it. “Man, I was down to 90%, but now I’m fine” is NOT 100% better. I think we’re used to expressing things in percentages, thanks to our grading system. Now, if someone said “I was afraid I was going to flunk. I got a 40% on the test, but I met with the teacher and explained my answers. and got a 100% better grade.” I’d assume it had been raised to 80%. Not 100%. If I asked a sick person “Back to normal?” and they said “Yeah, I was functioning at 50% yesterday, but today I’m 100% better. Feel great!”, then I’d think they’re back to normal. ---
**Author:** ![Hapax\_Legomenon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8c91f0/32.png) [@Hapax\_Legomenon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hapax_Legomenon)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-feel-a-100-better-than-yesterday-ahh-what/835331/7 "2019-06-10T21:42:02Z")
I’d parse it as “100% of the ways I could be better”, that is, in their best possible health. Akin to “My car is 100% fixed” = “I’ve fixed 100% of the problems with my car” = “My car is running normally”. Most people don’t understand percentages well enough to know why the phrasing would be misleading. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-feel-a-100-better-than-yesterday-ahh-what/835331/8 "2019-06-10T21:50:24Z")
Missed the edit: This thread’s title ends with > [@](#): > > …ahh what?? After I went back and read that, I’m going to go with “This’ll be confusing either way, given that people don’t have a hard rule of how to interpret it.” So I think I’ll avoid rating myself in terms of percentages, especially 100% (and, sorry coach, I will no longer be giving 110%). Like I’d avoid “There were \*literally \*100 ambulances in my yard!” ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-feel-a-100-better-than-yesterday-ahh-what/835331/9 "2019-06-10T22:18:50Z")
I’d interpret it to mean both those things. Yesterday, I was ill/underslept/etc. and at 50% capacity. Now I’m back to 100%–that is, normal. That’s a 100% improvement over yesterday. ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-feel-a-100-better-than-yesterday-ahh-what/835331/10 "2019-06-10T22:56:40Z")
Unless there is an objective way to quantify feelings that I’m not aware of, it has to be an idiom where the 100% has no literal meaning. ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-feel-a-100-better-than-yesterday-ahh-what/835331/11 "2019-06-10T23:19:49Z")
I hope I’ll be able to say the same thing tomorrow when I wake up… ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-feel-a-100-better-than-yesterday-ahh-what/835331/12 "2019-06-10T23:29:37Z")
I take it to mean the same thing as when someone says, “I feel like a million bucks!” That is, I’m not expecting them to buy the house a round of drinks. 100% just means “the best that I can feel,” or something along those lines. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2019, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-feel-a-100-better-than-yesterday-ahh-what/835331/13 "2019-06-11T00:10:10Z")
I don’t get it. “Yesterday, on a scale of 1-10, I felt like a 5. Today I feel like a 10” Isn’t that 100% better? ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2019, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-feel-a-100-better-than-yesterday-ahh-what/835331/14 "2019-06-11T10:11:24Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > I take it to mean the same thing as when someone says, “I feel like a million bucks!” You don’t ask them “US, Canadian or Australian?” I have never assumed that people were being literal. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2019, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-feel-a-100-better-than-yesterday-ahh-what/835331/15 "2019-06-11T10:19:49Z")
> [@glennwith2ns](#): > > Perhaps this is just an incorrect way of expressing the way they are feeling. There is nothing incorrect about it. [Idioms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiom) are a common vehicle of expression, both in English and in other languages. If someone says “I feel 100% better than yesterday,” It means they felt very bad yesterday, and they are mostly/completely back to normal today. you should not interpret their statement as a literal, precise mathematical quantification of their state of health. You should also not take it literally if they say “I feel like shit,” as this is just another idiom. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2019, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-feel-a-100-better-than-yesterday-ahh-what/835331/16 "2019-06-11T14:58:30Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > You should also not take it literally if they say “I feel like shit,” as this is just another idiom. I feel like shit, or maybe coffee and a donut. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2019, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-feel-a-100-better-than-yesterday-ahh-what/835331/17 "2019-06-11T17:33:46Z")
It just means they feel a lot better. Maybe close to 100%. But, no, there’s no defined quantity of “how do I feel today?” If I’m a 1/10 today and feel a 2/10 tomorrow, there’s no way in hell I would say that feels “100%” better. I still feel like shit. Language isn’t math. This is just a figure of speech, an idiom. It just boggles my mind–though it shouldn’t–when people try to be hyperliteral about expressions, as if everything in life and language has a mathematical, precise nature to it. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2019, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-feel-a-100-better-than-yesterday-ahh-what/835331/18 "2019-06-11T17:49:32Z")
If I hear, “I feel a 100% better than yesterday”, I assume they’re not feeling completely well, but they feel a lot better than they felt yesterday. > [@Slash1972](#): > > I don’t get it. “Yesterday, on a scale of 1-10, I felt like a 5. Today I feel like a 10” > > Isn’t that 100% better? As long as the scale is linear, that could be theoretically true. The math would also work if you were a 4 yesterday but an 8 today, or a 3 yesterday but a 6 today. But I don’t think it’s likely that someone who isn’t feeling well would describe themselves as 100% better, at least not without qualification. “I felt like crap yesterday. Today I’m not feeling very good, but it’s 100% better than yesterday.” ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2019, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-feel-a-100-better-than-yesterday-ahh-what/835331/19 "2019-06-11T18:41:08Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > I don’t get it. “Yesterday, on a scale of 1-10, I felt like a 5. Today I feel like a 10” > > Isn’t that 100% better? These go to 11. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2019, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-feel-a-100-better-than-yesterday-ahh-what/835331/20 "2019-06-11T19:07:46Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > These go to 11. > > Regards, > Shodan [It can go higher](http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/02/boyfriend-doesnt-have-ebola-probably.html), but if someone medical is asking, it’s usually a pain scale and not a wellness scale. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-feel-a-100-better-than-yesterday-ahh-what/835331.md?page=2)