I heard today about an Abundance Study of sharks off of Catalina Island. Knowing that such studies are finding sharks no longer in abundance, the title seems contrived to suggest otherwise. Yes, frequency and abundance are scientific measures, but they mean count, don’t they? These days we’ve come to expect government scientists to politicize what could otherwise have been called a population survey. Here “abundance” is a scale that also implies a measure on the scale, in this case positive. As with “number” or “charge,” we infer there is one. Perhaps the shark researchers opted not to call it a scarcity study for fear of jinxing their sharks.

Unfortunately by misrepresenting the “abundance” of sharks, the scientists do nothing to arrest mankind’s Jaws-inspired crusade to hunt down every last one.

A similar measure could be health, aka our nation’s Health Care System. Our health could be terrible, but in advance of declaring a condition, it can be surmised that we have health.

Can you think of other examples? Height? Wealth? Potential? Confidence? Stability? As a measure of our economy, these terms should be declared inviolate. Guard them from the machinations of media think tank word-smiths who find themselves needing to spin our economic collapse upward.