When things don't add up
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Reader question: What does it mean when people say things "don't add up"?

My comments:

Two and two don't add up to five. Two and two add up to four. Five is incorrect.

When numbers don't add up, they don't work out right. For example, if a survey claims that 35 percent of its respondents say "Yes", 35 percent of others say "No" and another 35 percent say "I don't know", those percentages don't add up. 35 percent plus 35 plus 35 equals 105 percent. That's impossible. And what does than mean? Well, something is wrong with that survey – it doesn't what it's talking about.

When people say things – theories for instance – don't add up, it means they don't make sense. Or in another saying, they don't hold water.

Hold water? Yeah, think of baskets with holes in the bottom. Baskets with holes in the bottom won't hold water. When theories are said to fail to hold water, they don't conform to logic1. In the novel Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, Mr. Utterson, the lawyer, contemplates2 the disappearance3 of Mr. Hyde thus with Poole, the butler:

"This is a very strange tale, Poole; this is rather a wild tale, my man," said Mr. Utterson, biting his finger. "Suppose it were as you suppose, supposing Dr. Jekyll to have been – well, murdered, what could induce the murderer to stay? That won't hold water; it doesn't commend itself to reason."

Here are a few more up-to-date examples of things that don't add up:

1. Iraq's numbers don't add up, U.S. says (latimes.com, November 30, 2007).

2. Maths lessons don't add up for pupils (physorg.com, December 6, 2007).

3. Asian takeovers don't add up: Morgan (theaustralian.news.com.au, December 10, 2007).

4. AIDS figures, funds don't add up (in.news.yahoo.com, December 8, 2007).

5. Sister says findings in brother's death don't add up (knoxnews.com, November 22, 2007).

6. Arithmetic teacher's excuses don't add up (business.timesonline.co.uk, November 27, 2007).

7. Claims of vanishing middle class don't add up (deseretnews.com, December 5, 2007).

8. OOIDA says Mexican truck stats don't add up (tacitus13.newsvine.com, December 6, 2007).

9. My two cents don't add up to a penny on Technorati (technorati.com/blogs/patentpen21.livejournal.com, date unknown, no bother).

Ah well, apparently4 a lot of things don't add up when you put two and two together.

A lot of times in fact, it depends on how you put two and two together.



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1 logic j0HxI     
n.逻辑(学);逻辑性
参考例句:
  • What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑?
  • I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。
2 contemplates 53d303de2b68f50ff5360cd5a92df87d     
深思,细想,仔细考虑( contemplate的第三人称单数 ); 注视,凝视; 考虑接受(发生某事的可能性); 深思熟虑,沉思,苦思冥想
参考例句:
  • She contemplates leaving for the sake of the kids. 她考虑为了孩子而离开。
  • Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them. 事物的美存在于细心观察它的人的头脑中。
3 disappearance ouEx5     
n.消失,消散,失踪
参考例句:
  • He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
  • Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。
4 apparently tMmyQ     
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎
参考例句:
  • An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽,豁然开朗。
  • He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。
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