# Three Times Less Than **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 14, 2017, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-times-less-than/801638 "2017-11-14T20:46:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [November 15, 2017, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-times-less-than/801638/21 "2017-11-15T12:48:31Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > See my points above regarding oysters, baseball, and wrongness. I have. I’m answering your question of what they mean when they use that construction. I don’t like it, either, but that’s what is meant. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2017, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-times-less-than/801638/22 "2017-11-15T14:24:40Z")
Best is to ask for clarification. Even when it’s “obvious” what the phrase _should_ mean, that doesn’t mean it’s being used correctly. Two anecdotes: I once had a businessman friend who was a friend of Alex; he told me to shop for jewelry at Alex’s Jewels and I’d get a 300% discount! I went to one of the Alex Jewel shops (and quickly decided I was not in the market for an emerald necklace) but without ever mentioning that I’d once had dinner at Alex’s house, the saleslady offered me 1/3 price on everything: I could walk away with the ฿300,000 necklace for a mere ฿100,000. So that’s what “300% discount” meant. I was amused during the 1997 financial crisis: When the baht/dollar ratio went from 26 to 39 the _Bangkok Post_ reported that “the baht has lost half its value.” Hmmm. Well, 39 minus 26 is half of 26. But they weren’t consistent: The baht/dollar ratio soon went all the way to 52 and the _Post_ did _not_ report that “the baht has lost all its value”! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2017, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-times-less-than/801638/23 "2017-11-15T15:10:35Z")
^^And it was cheap at half the price! ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2017, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-times-less-than/801638/24 "2017-11-15T18:07:26Z")
I was on another message board a while back where someone said “The number of murders declined by 400 per cent.” I asked him if they have found a way to bring dead people back to life. He got mad at me and called me ignorant. :rolleyes: It’s just more of the dumbing of America. The same people who say 300 per cent less are probably the same ones who say they “could care less”. ---
**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:** [November 15, 2017, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-times-less-than/801638/25 "2017-11-15T18:33:12Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > The same people who say 300 per cent less are probably the same ones who say they “could care less”. No to the first, and yes to the second, and I could care less. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2017, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-times-less-than/801638/26 "2017-11-15T19:07:36Z")
> [@rat\_avatar](#): > > Here is a cite showing it has been used for quite a while, and I have changed the long s (ſ) so that modern readers don’t hit the fffff-stop > > This is from Issic Newton’s 1730 book _Opticks_ > > [Opticks : or, A treatise of the reflections, refractions, inflections and colours of light : Newton, Isaac, Sir, 1642-1727 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive](https://archive.org/stream/opticksortreatis1730newt#page/56/mode/2up/search/three+times) Newton was renowned for unclear writing. \*Opticks \*was his first published work in English, and was written to be intelligible by the lay reader. So it’s not the greatest example. ---
**Author:** ![ThisIsTheEnd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisistheend/32/4713_2.png) [@ThisIsTheEnd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisIsTheEnd)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2017, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-times-less-than/801638/27 "2017-11-15T21:23:10Z")
John makes $25.09 / hr Example: According to Trump, Hillary Clinton got 3 times less votes than he did. So 3 times less = 4.5545748519% more. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-times-less-than/801638.md?page=1)