aka = 'in other words'

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Fri Nov 2 20:44:20 UTC 2012


They don't say it on cop shows.

JL

On Fri, Nov 2, 2012 at 3:41 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: aka = 'in other words'
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Whatever (what ever?) happened to good old "i.e."?
> DanG
>
>
> On Thu, Nov 1, 2012 at 9:14 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
> >wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      aka = 'in other words'
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > From Wikipedia on "Base rate fallacy":
> >
> > "Thus, in the example the probability was overestimated by more than 100
> > times due to the failure to take into account the fact that there are
> about
> > 10000 times more nonterrorists than terrorists (a.k.a. failure to take
> into
> > account the 'prior probability' of being a terrorist)."
> >
> > I have hated this "a.k.a." since the first time it jumped from police
> > blotters to general usage in the 1970s.
> >
> > Now I hate it more.
> >
> > JL
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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