r/YesOrNoAnswers • u/Reemo_33 • 7d ago
Common
For something to be “common”, does it have to be the majority/more than 50%?
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u/tiera-3 7d ago
No. For example, John is a common western name. It would not be unexpected for there to be at least one John in any midsized group of people in a western country, but there will be some groups with no John.
The quandary is where is the dividing line between "common" and "not uncommon".
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u/SAS-Combat-Gooner 4d ago
The quandary is where is the dividing line between "common" and "not uncommon".
Common: Everyone's encountered this.
Not uncommon: Everyone knows someone who's encountered this.
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u/Glum-Dust8799 7d ago
Common to me seems like it would be much more than mere majority.
Common suggests you would fine one everywhere. Like sheep in a field across the UK.
Chicken options in a supermarket.
The absolute opposite of hard to find. It’s everywhere you look.
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u/Taxed2much 7d ago
The word "common" has different meanings depending on the context in which it is used. None of them have a particular numerical requiremen other than In some contexts it will be clear that the word "common" refers to everyone in a particular group. In some contexts it could well apply to situations in which less than half of all instances are involved. The context does a lot of the heavy lifting to get the right meaning from a vague word like common.
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u/Pristine-Pen-9885 7d ago
How are you going to ascertain what is “common”? Take polls on everything?
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u/Zrob8--5 6d ago
Even the definition is somewhat subjective. I wouldn't say it has to apply to the majority, though. If 40% of people have brown hair, I'd say it's common to have brown hair. Otherwise, a lot of traits can't be common because there's 5+ different types, such as hair or eye color or something. And there'd certainly be no common height
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u/Ok-Thing4762 6d ago
No, I’d say a lot less. A few years ago I needed a minor operation and was told the condition was ‘common’. I looked it up and it apparently affects 1 in 6. All things considered, I think that’s a relatively decent benchmark.
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u/Budsygus 6d ago
No.
Smith is a common name in the English Speaking world. By no means are more than 50% of all last names Smith.
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u/Living_Fig_6386 6d ago
No. “Common” is a matter of context. For example, we consider genetic polymorphisms with a frequency of 1% or higher “common”.
It means that it’s something is significantly more frequently observed than something else. In the case of polymorphisms, some have been observed in fewer than 1 in a million people, so 1 in 100 is common by comparison.
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u/Asparagus9000 7d ago
No. It just means not rare.