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I couldn't reach the linked article, but it's about 74 years combined since 2012, as summarized by this Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/418

• dantillberg 11y ago
  Yeah; clearer title would be "Iceland Sentences 26 Corrupt Bankers to Total of 74 Years in Prison" instead of the current "Iceland Sentences 26 Corrupt Bankers to 74 Years in Prison".
  • kazinator 11y ago
    The unambiguous meaning of "N people sentenced to Y years" is that every one of the set of N people was given a Y year sentence. There is nothing unclear about it; it's simply the wrong way to say that each of N people was given Y/N years, on average, so that the total sentences add to Y. You can't add people's years together. Two 30-year-olds are not a 60-year-old, in combination. Moreover, different prisoners do not serve their sentences consecutively; it won't be the case that 74 years passes before the last banker goes free.
    • bobwaycott 11y ago
      It seems a bit akin to those "Tom, Sally, and Harry bring 50 years experience to solving your problems" type statements that are used when certain businesses/professionals market themselves. Of course, Tom, Sally, and Harry are all in their 30s.
      • kazinator 11y ago
        Even then, it's wacky usage, because a lot of the experience they have overlaps: they learned a lot of the same things in the context of the same body of knowledge and culture.
        • bobwaycott 11y ago
          Oh, absolutely wacky.
    • dang 11y ago
      Yes, it's ridiculous, and we've taken it out of the title above.