Highly compelling Statistics!

Statistics can be used to reassure the frightened, frighten the reassured, flabbergast the chronically-whelmed or convince the incredulous. They can turn a gob-shite pub companion into an sage-like pioneer of thought, apparently navigating the forefront of research with the sure-footedness of an 8-footed moose. It is probable (let's say a 30% chance) that there are statisticians out there lamenting the fact that statistics are too commonplace these days. They are used so liberally and trivially that they are diluting the impact of genuinely useful statistics such as those relating to disease, poverty, crime and, let us not forget, the crucial chin and cheek related work of Laboratoire Garnier.



Nigel Mansell



I'd argue that statistics lose much of their ummph when presented to the meme-orientated moonlighters I step out with. Typically, the presentation of a "Well, 14% of people...blah, blah, blah" in conversation usually just causes the recipient to push out their bottom lip, stare blankly into the middle distance and mutter something along the lines of: "Ahh, right, I see" before taking a sip of their drink and hastily changing the subject to something close enough not to cause offence or imply that they think you're 14% full of shit. 

 All that being said, point your meme absorbers on this compelling data courtesy of regular Punner and Cousin of Mrs. Pun-Off Rich "Man with the Maths" Dinham.

These are averages taken from the last 3 Pun-Offs:

Average total Puns per Pun-off: 215.3

Average total "Likes" per Pun-off: 457

Average Likes per Pun (LPP): 2.1

These statistics show us what is happening on the service, but lets dig a little deeper:

Puns by Males: 80.6%

Puns by Females: 19.4%

So, here is where it gets slightly (very slightly) interesting:

33% of Puns by females were entered between 12:30pm-1pm.

What conclusions can we draw from this data? What does this say about the gender and Punning? These are perhaps thoughts for another day but I'm sure you've got your own musings on the issue.

You'll no doubt be delighted to know that Punning House is now accepting data and statistics from the Punning community. So, if you observe any interesting, but preferably silly and obscure trends please let me know. I'd be delighted to include them here.

Special thanks to Rich Dinham for his assistance this week; Punning House is indebted to you.