Nine Out of Ten Doctors Agree: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
''"Four out of five doctors prefer Camels. The fifth prefers women."''
Stock phrase in commercials for non-prescription products with some purported health
Sometimes phrased as "Nine out of ''these'' ten doctors agree," showing you a group of men in white coats with stethoscopes. This is a clue to what's really going on.
Your brain hears "
Alternatively, the claim may reflect reality, but what is being claimed isn't the same as what is being sold: listen carefully. Did nine out of ten dentists really say that their brand of toothpaste was best, or did nine out of ten dentists just agree that ''toothpaste in general'' is a good idea? Did they say they would recommend ''this'' brand over all other brands, or did they just say they would recommend it?
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For the classic disassembly of these sort of statistics, may we recommend Darrell Huff's ''How to Lie with Statistics''? The 1950s were a lot less naive than you might assume. And indeed, this is a subtrope of [[Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics]].
This trope has nothing to do with [[Doctor Dolittle]], [[Doctor Doom]], [[Doctor Faustus]], [[Doctor Horribles Sing Along Blog|Doctor Horrible]], [[Doctor Phil]], [[Doctor Slump]], [[Doctor Strange]], [[Dr. Strangelove]], [[Doctor Fate]], [[Doctor Zhivago]], [[The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde|Doctor Jekyll]], [[Doctor Steel]], [[Witch Doctor|witch doctors of any denomination]], or any of the Doctors from [[Doctor Who]], though you probably could find something at least nine of them agreed on.
{{examples}}
* The original instance of this phrase comes from Trident gum, where "four out of five dentists recommended sugarless gum for their patients who chew gum". They didn't add the qualifier "if their patients ''insisted'' on chewing gum", nor did they tell you that [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_174a.html the fifth dentist recommended that his patients not chew gum at all].
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{{quote|'''Tim:''' Look at this! Nine out of every ten doctors agree that people who don't eat Sunbeam sliced bread will get squashed by elephants!
'''Graeme:''' That's right. Mind you, it did take us a long time to find the right nine doctors, woo hoo hoo (makes loony signal) ... and the elephants! }}
* ''[[Pearls Before Swine]]'' had a few comics where Pig introduced his friends, five doctors, four of which agreed on everything, the fifth of which always disagreed. This was for more than just chewing
* A strip in ''[[Legostar Galactica]]'' has this. It turns out that the doctor being talked to is the tenth.
* Humorous advertising-deconstruction program ''[[The Gruen Transfer]]'' has actually registered the company "Nine Out Of Ten Experts", and are offering the company's endorsement to products for a "small fee". Nine Out Of Ten Experts recommend The Gruen Transfer.
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{{quote|"[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v{{=}}oCdkV8MOcDQ Nine out of ten Americans agree that out of ten Americans, one will disagree with the other nine!]"}}
** Or how about: "Nine out ten doctors agree the tenth one should really chill out" (did I get that right)
* On February 15, 2008, a news anchor on ''[[Royal Canadian Air Farce]]'' said, "A survey shows 51% of Canadians believe there is such a thing as love at first sight. The other 49% are men."
* A strip of ''[[9 Chickweed Lane]]'' showed a group of white-coated figures walking away from another whom they'd apparently just hanged (only his legs are shown, dangling from the top of the panel), and an onlooker remarking, "Nine out of ten doctors agreed."
* A humorous variant in ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'':
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