Statistics
Do you know what statistics is? It’s a thing
that’s used to make a general count
of people who are born, get ill,
who die, go to prison and get married.
But for me the peculiar thing about statistics
is the issue of percentages,
because there the average is always the same
even when someone has nothing.
Let me explain: from the calculations made
according to current statistics
it appears that you eat one chicken per year
and even if you can’t afford to buy a chicken
you are included in the statistics anyway
because someone somewhere is eating two.
Trilussa (1871-1950)