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Communication question: When people tell you they are giving 110%, don’t ya just hate those superduperlatives?

by Rick Baker
On Aug 27, 2014

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

When I was a child, neighbourhood parents had a habit of stopping me and asking me to answer math questions. [At one point I thought none of the adults in our subdivision knew how to count their money.] I suppose I was naturally talented at math. Later in life I found myself answering math questions during university level exams...dozens of exams. So, I understand I developed a habit of knowing math.

That knowledge of math has a few side-effects. One side-effect is, when people make claims like they are doing things beyond 100% it catches my attention and my thoughts. I have thoughts like, "Don't these people know when you've got 100% you've got it all & when you've given 100% you've given it all?

Giving 100% is superlative territory....that's the limit of your giving.

Giving more than 100% - well, that's defying the laws of at least mathematics...probably, the laws of physics...and possibly even the Laws of Nature.

How can you trust a person who makes claims like, "Boss - I'm giving 110%!"? [Some go even higher. You hear 150% regularly and some people have the habit of claiming a preposterous 1000%!]

Don't you think all of these people going overboard?...being excessive?...being exorbitant?...over-killing their point and beating it to death too?

Tags:

Communication: Improving Communication | Humour | Thought Tweets

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