5

S. S. Stevens wrote in On the Theory of Scales of Measurement (1946) that

For its final report (1940) the committee chose a common bone for its contentions, directing its arguments at a concrete example of a sensory scale.

What does common bone mean literally and figuratively?

Improve this question

5 Answers 5

Reset to default
10

A bone of contention is an idiom meaning

something that two or more people argue about strongly over a long period of time

a bone of contention

Here

... the committee chose a common bone for its contentions, directing its arguments ...

means the committee chose something common, something shared, that they could argue about.

Improve this answer
7
  • 7
    Aren't all bones of contention shared? I suspect this is the "occurring frequently" sense of "common".
    – Barmar
    Commented Nov 9 at 14:11
  • 1
    You obviously didn't understand my answer text. Nor did someone who upvoted your comment. Does my comment below make it any clearer?
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Nov 9 at 14:38
  • Is this idiom related to the idiom have a bone to pick with someone?
    – Jonathan
    Commented Nov 11 at 11:32
  • @Jonathan, No, the two idioms are quite different. A bone of contention is something the people concerned cannot agree on and argue strongly about; have a bone to pick with someone describes the state of the person annoyed by that someone.
    – Seowjooheng Singapore
    Commented Nov 11 at 12:47
  • "Aren't all bones of contention shared" @barmar - hmm, I don't see that at all?? It's totally normal that, regarding some issue, you and I would have different bones of contention. Say you and I were (totally random example) fans of Ford muscle cars. A hot issue for you may be "the convertible top is useless", for me "what the hell do they make V4s for?". In what way were you thinking that a "bone of contention" is kind of "shared" or "unique" ???
    – Fattie
    Commented Nov 11 at 18:35
4

You are splitting up this sentence incorrectly. Start with the set phrase "bone of contention" which, according to the Cambridge Dictionary, means

something that two or more people argue about strongly over a long period of time

Prefix that with "common" with the meaning

belonging to or shared by two or more people, or things

So what the sentence means is that they decided to focus on things that they all felt strongly/disagreed about.

Improve this answer
3
  • Aren't all bones of contention shared by both parties to the argument? I think this use of common means "occurring frequently".
    – Barmar
    Commented Nov 9 at 14:11
  • @Barmar: No - it's shared between / common to all aspects of "human-centric Scales of Measurement". They could have used different examples to illustrate different things they disagree about, but they chose to identify and address them all in the same context (the Sone scale of "perceived loudness"). How should I change my answer text to clarify that?
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Nov 9 at 14:36
  • Maybe it would make more sense if the question had more context. If you're familiar with the source, you could edit the question to add this.
    – Barmar
    Commented Nov 9 at 15:34
4

The committee had several contentious points (areas of disagreement) to cover when addressing the issue of "sensory scales" meaningfully calibrated to reflect human perceptions (e.g. is this chili pepper twice as hot as that one?).

Those points could have been addressed completely separately (does this hurt twice as much as that?), but they chose to explore all the arguments in the context of one single example - the Sone scale (is this twice as loud as that?).

The idiom bone of contention comes from the image of two dogs fighting over a bone, with neither dog giving in. In the final analysis, there's no such thing as an "objective" scale for human perceptions of any type, so there will always be aspects of any given "subjective, human-oriented" scale that people can't agree on (is he twice as stupid as her?).

Improve this answer
3

I. Definition: Common Bone of Contention

What does "common bone" mean literally and figuratively?

We will get a clear understanding if we follow the original text. An excerpt may cause ambiguity.

In On the Theory of Scales of Measurement (1946) S. S. Stevens wrote:
"For its final report (1940), the committee chose a common bone for its contentions, directing its arguments at a concrete example of a sensory scale.
This was the Sone scale of loudness (S. S. Stevens and H. Davis, Hearing. New York: Wiley, 1938), which purports to measure the subjective magnitude of an auditory sensation against a scale having the formal properties of other basic scales, such as those used to measure length and weight.".
On the theory of scales of measurement

The phrase "common bone for its contentions" here means a shared topic for debate, specifically the Sone scale. This scale aimed to quantify a subjective experience—loudness—in a structured, objective format.

Reference Cambridge dictionary:.
Bone of Contention: idiom meaning something that two or more people argue about strongly over a long period.

II. Difference between Decibels and Sones

Decibels (dB) measure sound intensity objectively, independent of human perception. .
Sones measure perceived loudness, reflecting how loud a sound feels to a listener, aligning with human auditory sensitivity.
sone unit of loudness

III. Explanation of the Bone of Contention about the Sone Scale

The "bone of contention" centered on the challenge of representing subjective experiences like loudness on an objective scale. This raised debates about the reliability, validity, and broader implications of using quantitative measures for human sensations.

Improve this answer
2
  • I think yours and my answer are essentially saying the same thing, but I must admit yours has an enviable clarity of expression. (It reads well, so to speak! :)
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Nov 10 at 0:39
  • @FumbleFingers I have considered the original text. In another post I found the OP did not include the last clause so it was difficult to interpret the meaning.
    – James Mathai
    Commented Nov 10 at 0:54
1

bone refers to the idiom I have a bone to pick with you., which refers to multiple dogs fighting over a bone, where it's use means that there is an issue, and bone refers to the object of the issue. The use of contentions provides a context clue of this idiomatic reference.

The use of chose a common ... for its contentions declares that there were multiple issues/bones being deliberated on, and the committee chose a single one to focus on.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .