Replicate, Duplicate, Repeat

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Saul Feldman in San Francisco.

Hiya, Saul. How are you?

Hiya, Saul. What’s going on?

Yeah?

I have a question that I’ve been hearing.

The political pundits lately have been using the words duplicate and replicate interchangeably.

They’ll say something like, Obama hopes to duplicate his success in Iowa, in Missouri.

And they’ll also say replicate.

And it seems to me that both of these words are incorrectly reused.

Duplicate seems to me to mean double, and replicate is a scientific term, meaning you’ll get the same results under the exact same conditions.

So what would you rather they use?

Repeat.

Repeat.

I think replicate would work here.

I mean, I would agree that there are different definitions of both duplicate and replicate.

Replicate would work, though, because the more general definitions, I know it’s used scientifically, is to obtain a consistent result.

It doesn’t have to be under the exact same circumstances.

Like in an experiment, you mean?

Well, right, but also we’re talking about something that’s quantifiable.

We’re talking about elections and primaries and politics where votes are cast and counted.

And in that way, it resembles the data that you’d gather in a scientific survey or research, right?

Yeah, but repeat is so much simpler.

Well, sure, but if you’re a blowhard talking head on television, you have to sound pompous and important, so you have to have a word with more syllables, right?

Well, I disagree.

Okay.

I think replicate is okay.

I really do.

But I agree with you, duplicate is wrong.

Now, so why does this get under your skin?

Are you in the scientific field?

Well, I used to be a university professor, and we always talked about replicating results.

And it was always a precise term that we would expect that the same conditions, under the exact same conditions, we would get the same results, which would validate the experiment.

And the result, the conditions are never the same when you go from state to state.

So replicate seems to me to be a misuse of the term.

Oh, I see.

But you can’t take that jargon that’s very specific to your field and apply that kind of in lay uses, can you?

Well, yes, I think you can, because to me it has a very precise meaning, as well as does duplicate.

And repeat is simply, I want to repeat my success, have the same success I had in state A as I had in state B.

Well, I do agree with you that repeat definitely works, and there’s nothing wrong with using the word repeat.

Yeah, but we’ve all agreed that duplicate is exactly wrong in all situations.

I would definitely avoid it, definitely.

If I were writing the script for the puffy-haired dude made up false faces on television, yes, I would avoid that word.

Well, Saul, you know what?

I hadn’t thought about this, and now I’m going to think of you every time I hear a pundit hold forth and say that word.

Thank you.

Thank you, Saul.

Thanks for calling that to our attention.

Well, thank you very much.

Or mine, anyway.

Okay, great.

Bye.

Bye.

When somebody puts a song in your head and you can’t shake it, that’s called an earworm.

What about a call like this where Saul puts this question into her head, so now every time we hear those three words, repeat, duplicate, and replicate, we’re going to say, oh, is that right?

Is that right?

Is that right?

Right.

Oh, is that a saw worm?

A saw worm?

I think it is.

Congratulations, saw.

Well, that’s good.

That’s all they wrote.

Give us a call, 1-877-929-9673.

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