[Ads-l] Phrase: more than (less than) three hundred degrees below zero

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Laurence Horn wrote:
> yes, another symptom of the confusion produced by negatively-oriented
> scales, along the perennial question (around Wimbledon, the NCAA college
> basketball tournaments, etc.) about whether a 5th seed is a higher or lower
> seed than a 12th seed.

Thanks for an excellent example, LH.
It appears that "draft pick" is another example of a
"negatively-oriented scale" or "reverse scale".
People use phrases such as "draft pick number 3", "draft pick number
five", and "the fifth draft pick".

Yet, in common parlance a "higher draft pick" means a numerically
lower draft pick.
Also, a "lower draft pick" means a numerically higher draft pick.

Perhaps the sense of "higher" meaning "better" dominates the
underlying numerical sense.
No doubt linguists have already examined this topic. Apologies for
boring the knowledgeable.
Garson

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