There is always someone worse off than you.....

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

If this is applied to everybody at once,then somewhere in the world there is somebody who is having a worse time than everybody else on the planet,and therefore is unwittingly proving the above theory incorrect.Well done that man.Or woman,maybe.

― Eugene Speed (Eugene Speed), Tuesday, 21 January 2003 03:05 (twenty-three years ago)

Arlo Guthrie had a song about that guy

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Tuesday, 21 January 2003 03:07 (twenty-three years ago)

but its never Carrot Top and that's just wrong.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 21 January 2003 03:08 (twenty-three years ago)

It's difficult to adjudicate these matters. By the time you managed to do so, all of the contendors for "worst off person in the world" would have died, and died awfully. Then you'd have to start again.

― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Tuesday, 21 January 2003 03:17 (twenty-three years ago)

no, it's a tie for worse off.

― A Nairn (moretap), Tuesday, 21 January 2003 03:18 (twenty-three years ago)

what the theory implies is that things are generally balanced, so the person who is worse off than you generally is also better off than someone else who is better off than you too....its a bit like when Liverpool beat Man Utd but Man Utd beat Arsenal but Arsenal beat Liverpool...

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 21 January 2003 09:58 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah, but at the end of it all there's a league champion, no?

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 21 January 2003 11:24 (twenty-three years ago)

By that argument, there is someone who is better off than everyone else in the entire world as well (and not just in a material way). Wonder who it is?

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 21 January 2003 11:27 (twenty-three years ago)

I actually think it breaks down at the extremes.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 21 January 2003 11:28 (twenty-three years ago)

The theory (which I don't necessarily buy) is that poverty is purely a relative term. So people defined as being poor are only poor in relation to others now and wouldn't have been considered as being poor in the past.

Does happiness only make sense in relative terms as well? Is it purely about expectations?

― James Ball (James Ball), Tuesday, 21 January 2003 13:02 (twenty-three years ago)

people defined as being poor are only poor in relation to others now and wouldn't have been considered as being poor in the past.

That's not what it's saying at all. Where is the temporal reference in the axiom? It's about the here and now.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 21 January 2003 13:04 (twenty-three years ago)

You're right, the theory doesn't necessarily imply time, could be geographical, social or whatever. Sorry for being woolly in expressing myself, but it hopefully doesn't alter the nature of the question.

― James Ball (James Ball), Tuesday, 21 January 2003 14:05 (twenty-three years ago)

I am reliably informed that the person who is worst off in the whole world is the man who cleans the public toilets in Aberdeen.Can't remember his name,though.

― Eugene Speed (Eugene Speed), Tuesday, 21 January 2003 21:43 (twenty-three years ago)

I really hate it when people say that to me to cheer me up. How does thinking about WORSE misery make anyone feel better?

― Maria (Maria), Tuesday, 21 January 2003 21:44 (twenty-three years ago)

Isn't it that guy who always shows up in the crime stats who's apparently robbed every 12 minutes and assaulted 400 times a day?

― dave q, Tuesday, 21 January 2003 21:44 (twenty-three years ago)

There is a 6307202933/6307202934 chance that someone in this world is worse off than you (or at least there was a few seconds before I posted this)

― Curtis Stephens, Wednesday, 22 January 2003 01:46 (twenty-three years ago)

the man who cleans the public toilets in Aberdeen

Wee John Poo Pong McPlop? i thought he retired...

― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 01:49 (twenty-three years ago)

blackadder pedant writes - it's wee *jock* poo pong mcplop.

― piscesboy, Wednesday, 22 January 2003 02:35 (twenty-three years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.