We are strong believers in language precision and have often talked about Sherman Kent and WEP, words of estimative probability. When using words to describe likelihoods and probabilities, there is not always agreement on meaning. This is what makes discretionary decision-making so difficult when placed in a committee structure. Someone can say an event is "likely", but there may not be agreement on what is the translated probability of the word.
Recently, a friend sent the above chart on what words mean in other cultures for a given point on the normal distribution. It is humorous, but like most humor there is a grain of truth in the joke. Ask a person in a different culture and you will get some very imprecise meanings or translations. In Britain or Australia, one word covers everything. Think of this when you ask someone about recent returns or their monthly performance. "Not bad" or "It's fine" could mean anything.
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