half full/half empty

[Linz]

Is the glass 'half full' or 'half empty' ??

[andy hughes]

If you're an optimist like me, it;s half full, but it depends on how people's lives are panning out, so expect a mixed response.

[apricot]

Depends on whether you like what's in the glass

[Bob...]

Knock it back in one and you wont have that problem

[Moog]

I read the economist... so it's completely full!

[darth vader]

I'm a surrealist so it's half a banana sandwich

[kags]

And I'm a delusional Nihilist so I don't believe the glass is really there.

[thekraut]

Cheers!

[Jenny Tools]

I'm a schizophrenic so it can be both.

"Can't it Jen"

"Yes it can Jen"

[Today's]

"hic" its bloodie empty now !!!!!

[spiff]

Get the beers in and I'll tell you.

[seal!]

it depends. if it is full then half gets pourd away, then its half empty but if its empty and it get filled up to the half way point then its half full!

[molly]

And if you're AbEd it disapperas altogether.

[molly]

Sorry -- disappears.

[mONKEykillar]

it is a false opposition. the answer is both are accurate decriptions of the status of the glass. it is a fallacy to assume there are only two positions to take on this issue, with no middle ground or other possibilities.

[bernardo]

Neither - in order to be "half full" i.e. "half empty" (for indeed verily they are the same thing) it would be necessary to know the exact number of molecules of liquid in the glass, and the exact number of molecules which the glass could potentially hold as a maximum amount, and for the former to be exactly half the latter. These two figures would not be constant, because they would both be changing constantly due to evaporation, friction, expansion, etc. And the definition of what constitutes a "full" glass would need to be defined in terms of the level of the surface, the meniscus, the rim of the glass, the lowest point on the rim, the angle at which the glass is resting on a surface, etc. The extent to which the glass is defined as "full" would also depend on the shape of the surface of liquid being affected by the viscosity of the liquid, and the distortions caused by the local gravitational field. It would be impossible to know all of these measurements exactly, due to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle.

[M.Winner]

So, in other words, you've no idea then !

[M.Winner]

When I sometimes go to a restaurant for a meal, I always expect my glass to be full my dear.

[Hamish]

yes it is