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A filmmaker and a crooked lawyer shattered Denmark's self-image

(www.theguardian.com)
196 points RapperWhoMadeIt | 3 comments | 27 Mar 25 13:01 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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albert_e ◴[27 Mar 25 15:32 UTC] No.43494713[source]▶
> One out of every two Danes has seen the documentary.

Why not simpler English -- "half of the country has watched it"

Also pendatic aside -- i think "every two danes" is a stretch -- i am sure we can find many instances of "two danes" where both has watched it. Or neither. Some are being born as we speak (write).

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thwarted ◴[27 Mar 25 16:34 UTC] No.43495322[source]▶
Why say "four out of five dentists" instead of "80% of dentists"?
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1. dfawcus ◴[27 Mar 25 17:23 UTC] No.43495787[source]▶
Because that is just what we do.

Expressing things as percentages was a late arrival; when until the mid 70s folks had to be able to cope with, and mentally manipulate vulgar fractions.

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2. absolutelastone ◴[27 Mar 25 19:29 UTC] No.43497167[source]▶
"four out of five" has the same number of syllables as "80%". "Three out of four" has even fewer syllables than 75%, for that matter. So I can see why those stuck around. Meanwhile "one out of two" is wordier than just "half". Are you saying British people still use it in such an inefficient case anyway?
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3. dfawcus ◴[27 Mar 25 22:32 UTC] No.43498986[source]▶
The media does when writing such things up, stylistic choices.

It is also likely to be "one in two" rather than "one out of two", in speech "half", "three quarters", "seven eighths" etc is more likely.