Does the term "mathematical" bug you?

Here is my response to Andrew Gelman's post on his blog. I am posting it here since that comment is not yet up.

The word mathematics(or mathematical) means different things depending on whether you are a mathematician, a physicist, a computer scientist, a statistician, an economist, a social scientist a journalist, a businessman or belong to any other species. In my part of the world there is a phrase for scheming or cunning manipulation which literally translates into English as "playing mathematics".

But going by what "good" mathematicians mean by mathematical I would consider it a great compliment if a piece of interesting statistical work or anything else for that matter is called mathematical in that sense.

Al Gore did it -- you can too!

This is not to say that Al Gore doesn't deserve the most famous peace prize in the world. On the contrary he is among the worthier ones to win the Nobel if you take a look at the past winners. But here is an interesting refresher course on How to win a Nobel Peace prize