Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Stop Saying "That's So Random!"

Ok, this is very important! Stop saying "That's so random," or "random" in any configuration, when what you want to say is that something is peculiar, weird, unexpected, or chaotic. Randomness is a property of numbers or members of a set selected by a randomizing process. By definition, there is nothing unexpected or unpredictable about a thing that can be described as "random."

Think of it this way: you have a normal six sided die, and you roll it. Any result from one to six pips would be equally random (physics approximately permitting, of course). However, it would be truly strange to get seven pips. That would not be random. But when people say, "So random!" they seem to mean something truly strange has happened, not something to be expected from among the supposed available outcomes.

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