probability neglect
n.— «Humans are the only species that understand risk, but we also engage in what’s called “probability neglect.” This is when we ignore probabilities and worry about more traumatic possibilities.» —“Good Question: Why Do We Worry?” by Ben Tracy WCCO-TV (Minneapolis, Minnesota) Feb. 16, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
After our conversation about towns with extremely short names, many listeners wrote to tell us about Why, Arizona. Others pointed out that there are towns called Ely in Iowa, Minnesota, and Nevada. Other super-short appellations include Rye, New...
Joey from Orono, Minnesota, has been learning Italian and its many idioms, which makes him wonder if there are other languages that can simply be learned in a classroom without input from a larger cultural context of new and evolving expressions...