educated guess

by wpengine on March 5, 2009

Discuss this oxymoron in the comments below.

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  • Grneff

    To be educated implies that you have background knowledge and relevant information.  A guess is an assumption or answer given based on little or no knowledge.  This is an especially harmful oxymoron to use when applying to a hypothesis in science.  Because it implies that a hypothesis is acceptable even if based upon little relevant information.  This leads to much wasted time testing unrelated or marginally relevant concepts.  

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  • HBains

    Not really. You are making a big assumption that most people make educated guess with no knowledge of that subject. Educated guess, in my opinion, is one based on a level of understanding of the subject where a person who for some reason cannot fully predict a result but can deduce or estimate the same using his/her knowledge or experience. To call a guess an educated guess without understanding the subject is wrong. But I don’t agree putting both these words in the same category. Educated guess should not be an oxymoron just because people tend to incorrectly call their guesses “educated guesses”.

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