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From: allison@mitre.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: Sturgeon's Law
Message-ID: <2362@topaz.ARPA>
Date: Mon, 24-Jun-85 15:27:07 EDT
Article-I.D.: topaz.2362
Posted: Mon Jun 24 15:27:07 1985
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From: Burgess Allison 

>This is commonly quoted as "90% of *everything* is crap." However, I
>have heard that percentage vary from "90%" to "95%" up to "99%". (As
>a great truth, I lean toward the "99" being the more correct figure.
>:-) (But here I am more interested in what Sturgeon really said.)
    
Just to add to breadth of variation (sorry, I don't have an answer),
Paul Dickson in his 1978 Dell Publishing book, The_Official_Rules,
cites the law as "90 percent of everything is crud."  He goes on to
add:
     
    This law is widely quoted--from "The Washington Post" to
  "Harper's"--with the percentages varying from 90 to 99 percent
  and the last word variously "crud" or "crap."
     
I know this doesn't help, but it's an interesting question.
     
                                       Burgess Allison