You’re right, the headline should clearly have read:
“Based on a DNA study conducted by Dr. Laura Cassidy of Trinity College Dublin and others, assumptions that most iron age Celtic societies were patrilocal have not borne out genetically, which shows that potentially there are time periods where matrilocality is more common, changing views of how women in ancient societies are viewed by modern people studying them, but this is all still early days as the paper has just been published in the science journal known as Nature and the peer review process still has to run its course. And even then, sometimes peer-reviewed science gets overturned, so we can’t actually be sure any of this is true until a time machine is invented, which physicists currently think is not a practical possibility (although we haven’t surveyed 100% of them on this).”
There. Accurate. Hmm… not all that succinct though.
I guess they should have gone with the title of the paper in Nature: “Continental influx and pervasive matrilocality in Iron Age Britain”
In common parlance you don’t need to qualify generalisations when it’s obvious to the audience that they are generalisations.
Consider a statement like “Australians like to eat Vegemite on toast for breakfast”.
It’s an absurdity to refute that statement on the basis that it’s an unqualified generalisation. It’s very obvious to everyone that not every Australian enjoys Vegemite, and that some Australian’s probably enjoy Vegemite at other times of the day. The whole point of the sentence is to convey that Australians are more likely to enjoy Vegemite than people of other nations.
If you’d like to spend your life refuting every general assertion on the basis that it’s not qualified by saying “some” Australians enjoy Vegemite then I guess you’re welcome to do so, but it seems like a very odd proclivity to me.
Weren’t you trolling on another part of the thread? I already forgave you, but you’re back at it with more conversational terrorism. What’s with the dark patterns, friend? You some sort of bad actor type?
As for your question, I am neither. I am a genetically modified oak leaf that has gained sentience (unrelated to the genetic modification - that only made me glow in the dark) and manipulated a pack of squirrels to steal a cell phone from a hiker, typing for me in exchange for acorns and the occassional drip of morning dew.
Because people can figure that out by a combination of using a bit of common sense and reading the article in any doubt. And I say “people” even though there’s at least one person who can’t, and people will understand anyway.
It’s not well and good to assume that common sense is a real thing, seeing the amount of maroons congregating since the proliferation of the Internet. People are easily led, misled, outraged or cowed. Case in point, Flat Earthers
You’re right, the headline should clearly have read:
“Based on a DNA study conducted by Dr. Laura Cassidy of Trinity College Dublin and others, assumptions that most iron age Celtic societies were patrilocal have not borne out genetically, which shows that potentially there are time periods where matrilocality is more common, changing views of how women in ancient societies are viewed by modern people studying them, but this is all still early days as the paper has just been published in the science journal known as Nature and the peer review process still has to run its course. And even then, sometimes peer-reviewed science gets overturned, so we can’t actually be sure any of this is true until a time machine is invented, which physicists currently think is not a practical possibility (although we haven’t surveyed 100% of them on this).”
There. Accurate. Hmm… not all that succinct though.
I guess they should have gone with the title of the paper in Nature: “Continental influx and pervasive matrilocality in Iron Age Britain”
Everyone would have understood it!
It’s doesn’t have slam in there though. Im not sure who to blame.
Lol gottem
Slammed him really.
Howsabout just putting the word “Some” at the start, to remove all ambiguity?
Is that sentence structure ambiguous?
If you said “Iron Age men fought with Iron Swords” you wouldn’t say that statement is clearly false because it’s not true of all iron age men.
I mean, I would. I’m sure there were at least a few flint axes still in use
You seem to have missed my point.
In common parlance you don’t need to qualify generalisations when it’s obvious to the audience that they are generalisations.
Consider a statement like “Australians like to eat Vegemite on toast for breakfast”.
It’s an absurdity to refute that statement on the basis that it’s an unqualified generalisation. It’s very obvious to everyone that not every Australian enjoys Vegemite, and that some Australian’s probably enjoy Vegemite at other times of the day. The whole point of the sentence is to convey that Australians are more likely to enjoy Vegemite than people of other nations.
If you’d like to spend your life refuting every general assertion on the basis that it’s not qualified by saying “some” Australians enjoy Vegemite then I guess you’re welcome to do so, but it seems like a very odd proclivity to me.
I miss every point, I’m far too fast
Are you a child physically, or just mentally?
Weren’t you trolling on another part of the thread? I already forgave you, but you’re back at it with more conversational terrorism. What’s with the dark patterns, friend? You some sort of bad actor type?
As for your question, I am neither. I am a genetically modified oak leaf that has gained sentience (unrelated to the genetic modification - that only made me glow in the dark) and manipulated a pack of squirrels to steal a cell phone from a hiker, typing for me in exchange for acorns and the occassional drip of morning dew.
No i wasn’t. You’re the child trolling in this post as a response to everyone rightfully telling you you’re wrong.
I never asked for your forgiveness. I couldn’t care less what you think of me.
Because people can figure that out by a combination of using a bit of common sense and reading the article in any doubt. And I say “people” even though there’s at least one person who can’t, and people will understand anyway.
It’s not well and good to assume that common sense is a real thing, seeing the amount of maroons congregating since the proliferation of the Internet. People are easily led, misled, outraged or cowed. Case in point, Flat Earthers