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[Neonivek]

A shocking 50 percent of our nation's blacks earn an income below the national average.

OHHH NO! That is... surprisingly normal.

Ok Ok I am intentionally misinterpreting. Since a lot of people intentionally misinterpret averages all the time to mean a perfectly spread out array (Like IQ often is interpreted to mean). So what you would likely want it something like 20 percent below, 60 percent on or close to average, and 20 percent above.

[Sergarr]

That's the onion

Just because it's satire doesn't mean it should use wrong definitions of the words

[IcyTea31]

Finnish travel agencies are still doing business as usual and haven't said if they're going to cancel reservations or evacuate. They have advised tourists not to stray far from their hotels, however. This is what Finnish media reports on about the crisis: not about the 1,8 million locals, but about the couple hundred tourists.

[Sheb]

Finnish travel agencies are still doing business as usual and haven't said if they're going to cancel reservations or evacuate. They have advised tourists not to stray far from their hotels, however. This is what Finnish media reports on about the crisis: not about the 1,8 million locals, but about the couple hundred tourists.

To be fair, the 1.8 millions locals probably don't read Finnish newspapers so don't need advice from them.

[Reelya]

When will people learn the difference between "average" and "median"?!

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/average

A single number that represents a set of numbers. Means, medians, and modes are kinds of averages; usually, however, the term average refers to a mean.

"Usually" but not always. Average can be used for , "mean, median or mode". As in "average man on the street".

[Sergarr]

http://www.theonion.com/article/nigeria-elects-black-president-446

A shocking 50 percent of our nation's blacks earn an income below the national average.

When will people learn the difference between "average" and "median"?!

but you got that wrong. Median and average are synonyms. It's only in colloquial use that average means "mean".

Really? Well, I guess it's different for you, because in Russian language, "average" and "mean" are literally the same word. For instance, last time I"ve heard, "average salaries" in my university are on the level of 140 000 commiebucks, while the median ones are about... 15 000-20 000 or so.

[ChairmanPoo]

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/average

noun
1.
a quantity, rating, or the like that represents or approximates an arithmetic mean:
Her golf average is in the 90s. My average in science has gone from B to C this semester.
2.
a typical amount, rate, degree, etc.; norm.
3.
Statistics. arithmetic mean.


http://www.dictionary.com/browse/median?s=t
noun
1.
Arithmetic, Statistics. the middle number in a given sequence of numbers, taken as the average of the two middle numbers when the sequence has an even number of numbers:

[Reelya]

You've excluded some of the definitions of average however. It's been taught at schools for decades in maths classes that "average" can refer to mean, median or mode. I took my definition from the same source as you, it does include the reference to median being a possible meaning.

If you counter-argument is that average cannot mean median, under any circumstances, then it's not enough to show that mean is the "usual" meaning. "X cannot be Y" is a false statement if you can find even a single X which is Y. It doesn't matter if almost all X's are not Y, even a single counter-example disproves the statement.

Here's the Oxford dictionary definition:
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/average

1) A number expressing the central or typical value in a set of data, in particular the mode, median, or (most commonly) the mean, which is calculated by dividing the sum of the values in the set by their number.

Here's the Merriam-Webster's Dictionary definition:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/average

Definition of average
1a) :  a single value (such as a mean, mode, or median) that summarizes or represents the general significance of a set of unequal values

In each case, "median" is referred to in their primary definition. Here's more detail from wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Average
First, you'll note that mean, median and mode are all listed in this page. This is the introduction

In colloquial language, an average is the sum of a list of numbers divided by the number of numbers in the list. In mathematics and statistics, this would be called the arithmetic mean. In statistics, mean, median, and mode are all known as measures of central tendency.

So in other words it's improper colloquial usage to use "average" to only refer to the mean, because that creates an ambiguity with the usage of the term in statistics, which is where the process originated.

[Loud Whispers]

A shocking 50 percent of our nation's blacks earn an income below the national average.

OHHH NO! That is... surprisingly normal.

That's the onion

That's the onion

Just because it's satire doesn't mean it should use wrong definitions of the words

The point of irony is that you are using words to mean something that they are not
It's the onion

Ok Ok I am intentionally misinterpreting. Since a lot of people intentionally misinterpret averages all the time to mean a perfectly spread out array (Like IQ often is interpreted to mean). So what you would likely want it something like 20 percent below, 60 percent on or close to average, and 20 percent above.

Did you really not blink an eye at winning the African-African vote

It's the onion

They make funny

[Sergarr]

That's the onion

Just because it's satire doesn't mean it should use wrong definitions of the words

The point of irony is that you are using words to mean something that they are not
It's the onion

Their report is technically fully factually correct, if you assume that "average" means "median". I know that some people currently like to write outrageous lies and then call it "satire" to cover their asses from libel law, but I thought that you, as a supposedly highly cultured British person, would know the difference between the low-class humour and the high-class sensible chuckle.

[Reelya]

Well there's another point, and that's to do with how wages are calculated. Almost always you hear about "median weekly earnings" not arithmetic mean earnings, where e.g. comparing the wage gap between men and women.

e.g. google "usa average income" and there is only 1 out of 10 google hits that use arithmetic mean, which is a USA today news story. Every other link highlights the word "median" as a synonym of average (except for one, which says average income per profession, but then gives you the median income anyway). So what that suggests that in the context of income, it's much more common for sources to cite medians rather than means as the "average". e.g. when they talk about the "wage gap" they say "The average woman's unadjusted annual salary has been cited as 78% to 82% of that of the average man's". But here they mean "median" income.

[Arx]

All very interesting, but none of it to do with Africa.

[Parsely]

That's the onion

Just because it's satire doesn't mean it should use wrong definitions of the words

It's satire. It's supposed to make people look stupid.

[Reelya]

All very interesting, but none of it to do with Africa.

I prefer to hammer these semantic disputes as soon as they arise. Leaving them dangling would mean they just flare up in another thread some time in the future.

[martinuzz]

The UN Security Council is convening about whether they will support Ecowas invading Gambia