heard: datapoint

[Marc Velasco]

Has anyone else been noticing the rising use of 'datapoint'?
(Apologies if this has already been brought up.)  Heard this morning
on Dianne Rehm, as well as previously.

Working def: statement in support of an argument, which is backed up
by 'data' (usually numeric); datapoint seems to focus on the
rhetorical quality/context of the statement and not on the data
itself.

Usually in the context of either powerpoint presentations, or
politics/policy, or IT related questions (at least in my experience).
Seems to be a marker for statements of 'quality' as opposed to
assertions or generalizations... especially for discussions that have
historically been made by analogy, reasoning, or simply assertions.

e.g.:
datapoint: crime rose 12% last year
non-datapoint: crime is a big problem in my neighborhood, and it's
getting worse.

Apparently, datapoint is also a company that makes some extension for
powerpoint.

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