"if you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything" meaning in All languages combined

See if you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything on Wiktionary

Proverb [English]

Etymology: This phrase was coined by economist Ronald Coase. A closely related sentence had been published in Alfred Sauvy's book L'Opinion publique (The public opinion, éd. Presses universitaires de France, coll. « Que sais-je ? », 1961, p. 100): The figures are innocent people who, under solicitation, under torture, very quickly confess what is asked of them, even if it means retracting later. (Les chiffres sont des innocents qui, sous la sollicitation, sous la torture, avouent très vite ce qu'on leur demande, quitte à se rétracter plus tard.) Head templates: {{head|en|proverb}} if you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything
  1. Statistics can be manipulated to support any conclusion. Wikipedia link: Alfred Sauvy, Ronald Coase
    Sense id: en-if_you_torture_the_data_long_enough,_it_will_confess_to_anything-en-proverb-dp2~bdmO Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English proverbs, Pages with 1 entry
{
  "etymology_text": "This phrase was coined by economist Ronald Coase. A closely related sentence had been published in Alfred Sauvy's book L'Opinion publique (The public opinion, éd. Presses universitaires de France, coll. « Que sais-je ? », 1961, p. 100):\nThe figures are innocent people who, under solicitation, under torture, very quickly confess what is asked of them, even if it means retracting later. (Les chiffres sont des innocents qui, sous la sollicitation, sous la torture, avouent très vite ce qu'on leur demande, quitte à se rétracter plus tard.)",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "proverb"
      },
      "expansion": "if you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
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          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English proverbs",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
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        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Statistics can be manipulated to support any conclusion."
      ],
      "id": "en-if_you_torture_the_data_long_enough,_it_will_confess_to_anything-en-proverb-dp2~bdmO",
      "links": [
        [
          "Statistics",
          "statistics"
        ],
        [
          "manipulate",
          "manipulate"
        ],
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          "conclusion",
          "conclusion"
        ]
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Alfred Sauvy",
        "Ronald Coase"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "if you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "This phrase was coined by economist Ronald Coase. A closely related sentence had been published in Alfred Sauvy's book L'Opinion publique (The public opinion, éd. Presses universitaires de France, coll. « Que sais-je ? », 1961, p. 100):\nThe figures are innocent people who, under solicitation, under torture, very quickly confess what is asked of them, even if it means retracting later. (Les chiffres sont des innocents qui, sous la sollicitation, sous la torture, avouent très vite ce qu'on leur demande, quitte à se rétracter plus tard.)",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "proverb"
      },
      "expansion": "if you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
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      "glosses": [
        "Statistics can be manipulated to support any conclusion."
      ],
      "links": [
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          "Statistics",
          "statistics"
        ],
        [
          "manipulate",
          "manipulate"
        ],
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        ]
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Alfred Sauvy",
        "Ronald Coase"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "if you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-09-22 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-09-20 using wiktextract (af5c55c and 66545a6). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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