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Taka Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

pick on

0 01i01font00pick on,02br
00a. Informal. to criticize or blame; tease; harass.02br
00b. to single out; choose: The professor always picks on me to translate long passages.02br
02font02i01font00(02font05000) 02br
02br
00Now, which 'pick on' is this here?02br
01i02br
00In general, when you are looking at a large number of values, mean, mode and median will not be too far apart - clumped together somewhere in the middle. But the differences can be significant. Take the average income: a politician who wants to talk up the nation's prosperity would be well advised to talk in terms of the mean rather than the median, because a single multi-millionaire will outweigh hundreds of low earners, bumping up the average considerably. A politician who wants to make out that the nation is going to hell in a hand-basket may 01font00pick on02font00 the median, because Bill Gates's trillions at the top would be cancelled out by a lone beggar at the bottom.02br
02br
02i00Or, is it a little bit of both (a ) and (b )?0240hrefhttp://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=pick+on&r=66
  

Top answer

0 01blockquote 01cite 10Taka12cite 11i 11font 10pick on,12br 10a. Informal. 12br 10b.

— Philip

  • 0 01blockquote 01cite 10Taka12cite 11i 11font 10pick on,12br 10a.
  • Informal.
  • 12br 10b.
  • 02font 02b 00 0-
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11 Answers
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Taka12cite11i11font10pick on,12br
10a. Informal. to criticize or blame; tease; harass.12br
10b. to single out; choose: The professor always picks on me to translate long passages.12br
12font12i12br
12br
10Or, is it a litt
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0Oh, interesting, Philip. I would written it as "select" and not "pick on," so for me, it's b, choose. I can see how with the "going to **** in a handbasket" part of the sentence, the politician might want to "criticize" the median income.0-
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1i00A politician who wants to make out that the nation is going to **** in a hand-basket may 01font00pick on02font00 the median, because Bill Gates's trillions at the top would be cancelled out by a lone beggar at the bottom.02i02br
02br
00It makes sense to me. 02br
02br
00A politician who wants t
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0 01i01font00b. to single out; 01b00choose02b00: 02br
02font02i00A politician [who wants to make out that the nation is going to **** in a hand-basket] may 01font00pick on02font00 the median,0-
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0 I can't imagine why the author used 01i00on02i00 there. Such a politician may 01i00[select / choose / pick] the median02i00, but not 01i00pick 01b00on02b00 the median02i00. At least I would not have used 01i00on02i00 if I had written this. Until I saw the definitions above, I w
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0 pick on seems fine: to single out for a particular purpose or for special attention (MWOD) 0-
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0I think I would choose "choose" too (i.e. not the "with hostile intent" meaning).02br
02br
00(I don't know whether the "on" has a slight intensifying effect, to give a sense of "pick deliberately and towards a particular end".)02br
02br
00MrP0-
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Philip12cite11blockquote
11cite20Taka22cite21i21font20pick on,22br
20a. Informal. to criticize or blame; tease; harass.22br
20b. to single out; choose: The professor always picks on me to translate long passages.22br
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Inchoateknowledge12cite10The arithmetic mean would be in all probability a higher value than the median ....11u10The median, without doubt, would be an average value; the mean, depending on how many Bill gates were there, in all probability, would be a very high value12u10.12br
12blockquote
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Taka12cite11blockquote
11cite20Inchoateknowledge22cite22br
20The arithmetic mean would be in all probability a higher value than the median ....21u20The median, without doubt, would be an average value; the mean, depending on how many Bill gates were there, in all probabi
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