I'm reading the Operating Instructions for my Panasonic telephone. Here's what it says under "Important safety instructions":
Avoid using a telephone (other than a cordless type) during an electrical storm. There may be a remote risk of electric shock from lightning.
Why is the second sentence so qualified? Why doesn't it say, simply, that, "There is a risk of electric shock from lightning"? Why is the risk said to be "remote"? And then, to compound the problem, it says that there "may" be a remote risk. Could the statement get any weaker? It can! Here is a progression:
1. There is a risk of electric shock from lightning.
2. There is a remote risk of electric shock from lightning.
3. There may be a remote risk of electric shock from lightning.
4. It has been said that there may be a remote risk of electric shock from lightning.
5. There is a possible world in which it has been said that there may be a remote risk of electric shock from lightning.
6. Some philosophers believe that there is a possible world in which it has been said that there may be a remote risk of electric shock from lightning.
7. There is a remote risk that some philosophers believe that there is a possible world in which it has been said that there may be a remote risk of electric shock from lightning.
8. Rumor has it that there is a remote risk that some philosophers believe that there is a possible world in which it has been said that there may be a remote risk of electric shock from lightning.
Why stop at 3? If you're going to go past 1, why not go all the way to 8?
