сумасшедшие англичане.

Цитата:

Similarly, there is a popular measure of proportion, with approximate percentages as follows:

(100%) Mr Jordan's fortune consisted wholly of bar-gold.
(99%) Practically all his fortune consisted of bar-gold.
(95%) His fortune consisted almost entirely of bar-gold.
(90%) Nearly all his fortune consisted of bar-gold.
(80%) By far the greater part of his fortune consisted of bar-gold.
(70%) The greater part of his fortune consisted of bar-gold.
(60%) More than half his fortune consisted of bar-gold.
(55%) Rather more than half his fortune consisted of bar-gold.
(50%) Half his fortune consisted of bar-gold.
(45%) Nearly half his fortune consisted of bar-gold.
(40%) A large part of his fortune consisted of bar-gold.
(35%) Quite a large part of his fortune consisted of bar-gold.
(30%) A considerable part of his fortune consisted of bar-gold.
(25%) Part of his fortune consisted of bar-gold.
(15%) A small part of his fortune consisted of bar-gold.
(10%) Not much of his fortune consisted of bar-gold.
(5%) A very small part of his fortune consisted of bar-gold.
(1%) An inconsiderable part of his fortune consisted of bar-gold.
(0%) None of his fortune consisted of bar-gold.

This simple, generally accepted, scale is confused by writers who, for dramatic effect, try to make 5% seem more than it is...

Источник: Роберт Грейвз (тот самый), Алан Ходж, The reader over your shoulder: A Handbook for Writers of English Prose.

И главное, без всякой иронии это пишут, совершенно with straight face.

Возьмётся ли кто перевести эту ужасную таблицу на русский? :)