One survey they've done looks into attitudes about swearing on TV. In it, people's answers are spit into groups reflecting voting intention, age, sex, class, and area of the country (it's an English survey).
And what I want to know is, why?
Does the opinion of a posh young person in the capital city matter more than that of a poor pensioner in the northern town of Bolton?
(Answer: very probably yes, though that's nothing to do with this survey.)
It's a good thing that all kinds of people were asked, of course (though as it happens none of the categories showed much difference in people's opinions.). But should their answers have been published in this way?
Should there have been extra sections to analyse ethnicity and religion?
Hmm...
...personally, I'm wondering if there are some things it's handiest just not to know.
Word To Use Today: poll. The Middle Low German word polle means hair of the head.
I suppose polls in those days didn't count the views of bald people.
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