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Pedants' corner

What about the ones that don't?

(7 Posts)
Wheniwasyourage Tue 08-Aug-17 18:57:16

Or what about "10 times less than..."? Do they mean "a tenth of.."? Drives DH round the bend, and now he's got me at it too.

Chewbacca Tue 08-Aug-17 17:32:16

And the ones that say "cleans up to 2 times more than...". What's wrong with "cleans twice....."?

phoenix Tue 08-Aug-17 17:27:36

Getting back on track(ish) these ads that claim to improve/remove "up to" (insert percentage of choice) something?

Well, anything from 1% could be considered to fall within the "up to" bracket.

And have you noticed that especially in cosmetics ads, they use figures such as 97% of women agreed. Then you look and see it was actually 97% of some random figure like 134confused

They just keep playing with the numbers until they find ones they like.

phoenix Tue 08-Aug-17 17:23:37

Slightly off piste, but we used to refer to people as a bit Dagenham, as in almost Barking.

grandtanteJE65 Tue 08-Aug-17 15:11:46

In my childhood Harpic was advertised as the only toilet cleaner that "cleans round the bend".

After that, anyone who was slightly odd by our standards was described as being slightly Harpic (= clean round the bend)

MawBroon Wed 02-Aug-17 08:06:52

"Repels" is a fatuously vague claim too. How do you know? There might just not be any around at the time.
I like my claims to be more assertive. Was it Domestos that used to claim "Kills 99% of all germs. Dead"??
But now I am worrying about that 1%. Does it not kill them or just not dead? hmm

Baggs Wed 02-Aug-17 07:14:42

Just spotted a Boots advert on the Gransnet Active page for some mosquito repellent that, it claims, repels "mosquitos that carry malaria and zika viruses". I immediately wondered: fine, but what about the ones that don't carry those diseases? They still bite and cause itching for days.

Besides which, I'm not sure I believe the repellence claim. The only really effective way to keep mosquitos or midges off one is to use a physical barrier like a net. It's the spread of mosquito nets in Africa, for instance, that is reducing the devastation malaria leaves in its wake, not some chemical concoction.