And, no, I was never the recipient of an award from Esther Rantzen.

Do I detect a wee bit of a conflict here?
Are you being just as much of a “jobsworth” as Mr. Hartley in insisting on staying within the rules of language or mathematics?

I make the above comment in jest, but there is an underlying point. Why must we adhere to mathematics and grammar so very closely in conversation?

If writing a text book for educational purposes – yes, of course, things must be 100% accurate. Surely, though, in conversation or casual writing, use of language in creative ways need not be wrong as long as it communicates information efficiently?

Jo – being from Britain, I saw a version of that joke many years ago. Yours was better, though.

(Pssst! I make ASSKISSING = 127%, AND if you use the British spelling, A-R-S-E-K-I-S-S-I-N-G, you can crank it up to 131% – assuming my rather rushed arithmetic is accurate).

What makes life 100%?

If

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z is represented

as:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.

Then,

H A R D W O R K
8 1 18 4 23 15 18 11 = 98%

K N O W L E D G E
11 14 15 23 12 5 4 7 5 = 96%

But,

A T T I T U D E
1 20 20 9 20 21 4 5 = 100%

And,

B U L L S H I T
2 21 12 12 19 8 9 20 = 103%

So, it stands to reason that hardwork and knowledge will get you close, attitude will get you there, but bullshit will put you over the top.

And look how far ………

A S S K I S S I N G
1 19 19 11 9 19 19 9 14 7 = 118%

will take you.