Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site topaz.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!whuxlm!harpo!decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!think!harvard!seismo!columbia!topaz!allison@mitre.ARPA 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 Date-Received: Thu, 27-Jun-85 05:39:24 EDT Sender: daemon@topaz.ARPA Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J. Lines: 20 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