Reading This Will Make You Up To 173% Smarter
There are probably no weasel words quite as slick as “up to”. And they clearly are very effective.
Think about it– this language is plastered all over the place: “Get up to 75% off!”. “Kills up to 99.9% of bacteria and viruses!”. “Up to 53% of Americans think Biden should step down.”
In order to understand what’s really going on, ask yourself this one simple clarifying question: “What’s the smallest number which would qualify under “up to”?”
Now you get it, right? Even zero is included in the “up to 99.9% effective.” I suppose, for the sake of pleasing mathematicians, even negative numbers qualify. At least that’s what up to 100% of mathematicians would say.
What “up to” enables you to do is flash a big, juicy number and attach it to your claim, without any worry that you might get called out. It completely legalizes puffery.
“Up to” relies on the pervasive human tendency to overvalue things we want, to convince ourselves that the new shiny object is actually shinier than it really is. All that “up to” needs to do is supply a tangible and plausible-sounding sound bite for your fantasies, and your eagerness will seize the dream as if it were fact.
So there you have it. Bet you feel up to 173% smarter already!