Issue 150 – August 2025
Making numberS make sense, Canadian version
How do you help readers grasp the meaning of especially large or small numbers? Make them make sense.
Nine years ago this week, beloved Canadian band The Tragically Hip played their final concert.
Performed in their hometown of Kingston, Ontario, the sold-out “National Celebration” aired live on TV and radio, and streamed on the Internet. The lead singer, Gord Downie, had incurable brain cancer, and he, the band and fans knew he did not have long to live. (He died just over a year later.)
Some 12 million Canadians watched the concert, including me. How big an audience was that? One-third of the country, according to Craig Baird, who hosts a podcast and radio show and tweets about Canadian history. I can believe it.
The sad occasion aside, I love when writers make numbers make sense like this. It’s one of the best ways to help your readers grasp the meaning of especially large or small numbers. Here are some other examples, which all make comparisons meaningful to Canadian readers (sorry, U.S. friends!):
“In 2023, more than 15 million hectares of forest burned across Canada — an area larger than the Maritime provinces — more than double the previous record and six times more than an average season.” – Marco Chown Oved in the Toronto Star
“Ontario’s electricity demand is expected to grow by 75% by 2050—that’s like adding 4.5 cities with the energy needs of Toronto.” - @VoiceforEnergy
“On average, 12 million cubic metres of snow are removed from the streets of Montreal each winter, enough to fill the Olympic Stadium 10 times.” – Joe Bongiorno, The Canadian Press
“Goderich is home to the largest underground salt mine in the world. If you were to take Toronto’s CN tower and plunge it into the earth that would be about how deep the mine goes.” – Adrian Ghobrial, CTV News
“The island is small, around 115 hectares, slightly more than a quarter of the size of Vancouver’s Stanley Park.” – Larry Pynn, Hakai Magazine
Since at least 2020, more than one million tonnes of limestone aggregate – enough to build Yonge Street twice over – have been excavated without a licence or permit…” – Canada News
“A Lockheed Super Constellation built in Burbank, Calif., it could hold roughly 100 passengers and had a range of about 8,200 kms — roughly the distance between Toronto and Moscow.” – Chris Bateman, blogTO
Have you spotted any other helpful comparisons that did a great job of explaining a large or small number? Please share.
Related reading (and listening):
The Tragically Hip live from A National Celebration
How big are bears? Perspective makes it plain
In the Red Jacket Diaries:
Interviewing and writing tips you might have missed, July edition
Tragically, Gord’s gone, but his words live on
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