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  • Writer's pictureA.R. McNevin

"The energy it's putting out is off the charts!" #shorts

Updated: Mar 26, 2021

Then get a goddamned better chart.

If you have a scale for things, then if something goes beyond that scale, then you need a better scale. If the alien's power/energy level/strength goes off the chart, then this isn't a sign that the alien is necessarily too powerful; it is a sign that maybe your chart should go to eleven.

Also, and this does to the fiction of the story in which the line is used; how did they come up with the chart and how is the attribute measured? If this a radar or a sensor package, then maybe you're using the wrong system. This reminds me of young Earth creationists who use carbon dating to "prove" that the world is 6,ooo years old. They use the tool, the sensor package, incorrectly and announce the wrong result with such pride that it makes you wonder which school they went to. Oh, they were homeschooled by people who didn't believe in the scientific method? Fair enough.

I get that this is meant to indicate a magnitude difference between those with the chart and those who are off the chart, but maybe it's time to retire this trope (even if it is used ironically). Put it with the "as you know" line, for which there are a hundred different ways to get your point across. Pick any one of them. Any of them at all.

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