Monday, March 2, 2009

Probability of Being Sure

Tonight Tamara and I were at IKEA looking for kitchen ideas and I stumbled upon an interesting topic: I asked her, "What percent sure are you when you say you're 'reasonably sure'?" She said she's 85-95% sure. I then asked what percent sure she is when she says she's "pretty sure". She said 65-85% sure. I found that interesting because I am just the opposite. I'm more sure with pretty than with reasonably. Tamara thinks it has more to do with intonation than verbage.

5 comments:

Michael said...

I agree with Tamara--intonation says a lot.

Jared said...

Isn't it funny how you can think you're speaking the same language as the person you're talking to, and then you discover that you're not.

Joanne said...

Well I agree with Tamara as well - probably where she learned it - us! Sorry about that, Jack.

Austin's Mommy said...

I agree with Jack. I am more sure with pretty than reasonably. Although I do think intonation plays a very important role.

Marybeth said...

Sorry Jack, I'm going to have to go with Tamara, Michael and Joanne on this one. Intonation is everything, unless we want to get into body language. M:)