# Many times lighter?? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 12, 2003, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/many-times-lighter/148066 "2003-01-12T03:09:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/many-times-lighter/148066/41 "2003-01-13T13:11:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by yojimboguy \* > \*\*I don’t get it: > > …It grates on me… immensely irritating… but there’s nothing wrong with it …makes the speaker sound like an idiot. > > If there’s nothing wrong with it, why do you think the speaker sounds like an idiot? > > And of course there’s nothing wrong with the 1/x function, it SHOULD be used rather than what I’m ranting about. \*\* Of course, you could say that y = 1/x, and then speak about y. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/many-times-lighter/148066/42 "2003-01-13T13:26:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FairyChatMom \* > **Well, sonuvagun… guess I’ve learned something here.** Me too; at first I thought this topic was intensely boring, but now I’m finding it at least twice as interesting. ---
**Author:** ![CRorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CRorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CRorex)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/many-times-lighter/148066/43 "2003-01-13T19:23:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by yojimboguy \* > \*\*Sailor, > It’s not that we don’t inderstand it, it’s that it’s WRONG! And many times, these terms are used in forums where the writers/speakers SHOULD know better. I mean _Scientific American_, fer Christ sake! \*\* But Scientific American is the Weekly World News of science periodicals. ---
**Author:** ![CRorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CRorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CRorex)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/many-times-lighter/148066/44 "2003-01-13T19:25:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mblackwell \* > \*\*The one that bothers me is “extremly uncensored” on the Girls-Gone-Wild commercial. Something can be uncensored, or partially censored to any degree, but I do not think that there are different degrees of uncensored. \*\* No, there can be degrees of censoring. Extremly uncensored just means that extra nipples were digitally added to the footage. Or extra footage was added to the inchage. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/many-times-lighter/148066/45 "2003-01-13T22:31:24Z")
One possible reason that speakers, as well as narrators of programs such as those on the Discovery Channel say things like “twice as cold” etc, is because the correct and logical mathematical statement, in english, would sound awkward (an actual term used when correcting technical reports) to the ear. It’s called “artistic license”. People like creative writing authors, casual speakers and TV narrators choose phrases like --3 times slower-- because they flow and are easier on the ear than the precise mathematically correct version. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/many-times-lighter/148066/46 "2003-01-13T22:44:49Z")
The fraction of people who are bothered by this is infinitely small. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/many-times-lighter/148066/47 "2003-01-13T22:48:50Z")
Plus, people like metaphors. Even the OP says that he is “cheesed off”. Not logical, but evocative. ---
**Author:** ![Hodge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Hodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hodge)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2003, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/many-times-lighter/148066/48 "2003-01-13T23:17:45Z")
I declare the OP double-plus ungood. Hodge, Min. of Information. ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/many-times-lighter/148066/49 "2003-01-14T06:05:46Z")
Reminds me of infomercial sales pitches such as this one: “This new rotisserie of mine will cook this chicken throughly in minutes!” “You’ll save pennies!” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/many-times-lighter/148066/50 "2003-01-14T23:28:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > \*\*It’s time for us to rise up against this, even though we are the vast minority. \*\* As opposed to the half-vast majority?😃 ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/many-times-lighter/148066/51 "2003-01-15T15:10:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FairyChatMom \* > \*\*…\*t’s still an annoying commercial and those people on there who are fretting over the whiteness of their teeth need to find a new hobby. Preferably one that’s four times less annoying than their present whine. > > 😃 \*\* Shoot, I’m easy - I’d settle for only two or three times less annoying. BTW, white teeth: 😃 😃 😃 😃 😃 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/many-times-lighter/148066.md?page=2)