epimenides3
New member
- Joined
- Apr 11, 2011
- Member Type
- Interested in Language
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- Scotland
- Current Location
- Scotland
One of my friends made the following statement:
- They refuse to denounce more than 99% of it.
I know that he means:
- They denounce very little of it.
However, I think that two exactly opposite meanings are possible:
- They denounce 97% of it, or 98% of it, or 99% of it. (This means that they denounce a lot of it)
- However, they refuse to denounce more than 99% of it. (Because they agree with the last 1% of it).
Look at this example:
- He refuses to eat more than 99% of the pie.
I think this statement is ambiguous, with two opposite meanings:
- First meaning: He's a glutton. He will eat 97%, or 98%, or 99% of the pie, but not more (because he's full).
- Second meaning: He's on a diet. So there is a very large piece of the pie that he's refusing to eat (more than 99% of it). But he *will* eat the other bit (less than 1%).
Q1: Does anyone agree that these statements are ambiguous?
Q2: If they're ambiguous, why? IMHO I think the problem arises with the "more than 99%". If the original statement had simply been:
- They refuse to denounce 99% of it
Now everything is clear. They denounce 1%, and they don't denounce 99%
Similarly with the pie:
- He refuses to eat 99% of the pie,
This means that he eats 1%, and refuses to eat the other 99%.
BTW: Maybe I should be asking a maths forum rather than an English forum :-D
- They refuse to denounce more than 99% of it.
I know that he means:
- They denounce very little of it.
However, I think that two exactly opposite meanings are possible:
- They denounce 97% of it, or 98% of it, or 99% of it. (This means that they denounce a lot of it)
- However, they refuse to denounce more than 99% of it. (Because they agree with the last 1% of it).
Look at this example:
- He refuses to eat more than 99% of the pie.
I think this statement is ambiguous, with two opposite meanings:
- First meaning: He's a glutton. He will eat 97%, or 98%, or 99% of the pie, but not more (because he's full).
- Second meaning: He's on a diet. So there is a very large piece of the pie that he's refusing to eat (more than 99% of it). But he *will* eat the other bit (less than 1%).
Q1: Does anyone agree that these statements are ambiguous?
Q2: If they're ambiguous, why? IMHO I think the problem arises with the "more than 99%". If the original statement had simply been:
- They refuse to denounce 99% of it
Now everything is clear. They denounce 1%, and they don't denounce 99%
Similarly with the pie:
- He refuses to eat 99% of the pie,
This means that he eats 1%, and refuses to eat the other 99%.
BTW: Maybe I should be asking a maths forum rather than an English forum :-D