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by Audiotron on October 15th, 2008

Audiotron

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I have just seen a couple of questions that say something like "24/7 for a couple days". When did people stop realizing that 24/7 means "24 hours a day, seven days a week"? Is this just another sign of people slowly becoming dumber?

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Answers. 7 helpful answers below.

  • by 773491 on October 15th, 2008

    773491

    Not necessarily a general dumbing down, I´d rather say it´s a good example of the meme concept. People pick it up without exactly knowing what it means, and keep using it in the same context.

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  • by Anonymous on November 19th, 2009

    Anonymous

    Yes, it is. Have you seen "Idiocracy?"

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  • by JulesB on November 19th, 2009

    JulesB

    Who said the process was slow? I think America is on the fast track to stupidville. People seem to be proud of how stupid they are and want to defend their right to remain so.
    Why do they call it an ATM MACHINE? Machine is what the "M" stands for! Why do they say PIN number, or VIN number? The "N" stands for number!
    Why, when you correct someone's incorrect grammar or use of a word, do they invariably say "Well, that's how I say it." If I allow myself to think about it, I may wig out.

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  • by philosopher-saint on May 18th, 2009

    philosopher-saint

    Whaddayamean "slowly"?!
    ;-)

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  • by lil kayla on March 22nd, 2009

    lil kayla

    they're not dumb. they just have trouble rephrasing their words.

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  • by HungryGuy on November 19th, 2009

    HungryGuy

    Not necessarily dumber; just the evolution of language.

    For example, the phrase "24/7" means full-time or around-the-clock.

    Had the person who said "24/7" said "full time," that might have implied only 8 hours a day for those couple of days, like a job.

    Or the person could have said "around the clock for a couple of days." But that's a lot of words that can be abbreviated to "24/7 for a couple of days" and most everyone who reads it will immediatly understand what it means.

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  • by Cyanotic Wasp on March 28th, 2009

    Cyanotic Wasp

    I think the meme answer was excellent, and I think this also reflects how little people like to think for themselves. "24/7" is a popular meme, and people don't have to think much about it. "Around the clock for two days" would mean the same thing, more or less, but it's not so au courant, so people don't think to dig it out of their memory and use it instead. There's also an element of imprecision involved in the "couple days" expression, since that will mean "a-day-and-a-half" for many users, "up to two days" for some, 48 hours for others, and "more than three days" in more than a few cases.

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