The average temperature as told by the weatherman on the news is very misleading to me. For instance, he may say the average temperature for a certain date in November is 65 high and 45 low. How do they come up with that average? Do they add up all the temperature readings for that date as long as they have kept records and divide it by the number of days? They don't say how they figure it.
The average size of families in the USA is 3.20. So they say. I don't know any families that are that size, but somewhere there may be one.
An average person in my state is 33.1 years old, according to the US Census information. So does this really mean anything? Nearly everyone I know is older than 33.1 and a lot of my family and friends are a good deal older than that.
Shopping for clothes is a really fun experience too. Just when you think you are an average size, you will get that thought totally out of your head when you try on a few articles of clothing marked 'Average'. Some of them might fit your ten-year old daughter. A few of them may fit your 200 pound Auntie. However, if you are lucky some of them will fit. If you are not average size, but small, large or even extra large, the same thing applies. I recently saw a top marked 'Large' that would have been too small for most skinny ten year old girls. It was on a closeout rack and I suspect part of the reason for it being there was the size marked on the label.
I think average is a misused term. No one I know is 'average'. Some are certainly above average intelligence; I won't mention if any are below average intelligence. However I think there are a number of public officials and school administrators (think zero tolerance) who may fit the below intelligence category.
The next time someone asks me how I am doing, I will just say 'Oh, average'. That should cover everything, from rotten to great. After all, average could be anything based on what I see about 'average'!
Martha
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