i immediately thought of the 2^20th examples. I often marvel at the 2^10th is 1000ish coincidence but people say things like "1 in a million" because it sounds

i immediately thought of the 2^20th examples. I often marvel at the 2^10th is 1000ish coincidence but people say things like "1 in a million" because it sounds incalculably rare, so I'm not sure I understand the goal here? to make an exaggeration sit on an intuitive scale as if it was meant literally? if successful that will make being "literally one in a million" fall out of favor just as literally has. one thing I took away from modestly extensive study of linguistics was, people need to stop thinking that words have strict definitions, and realize that words adopt definitions to suit what people are trying to say. What did they mean is more important than what did they say.