How good do Britons think they are at interpreting Roman numerals?Very good: XIV%Fairly good: L%Fairly bad: XXIII%Very bad: X%yougov.co.uk/society/arti…

— YouGov (@yougov.co.uk) 2025-02-28T11:48:03.702Z

But how good are Britons at interpreting Roman numerals in reality?Only 15% got all six of our test questions correct, including just 44% of those who rated their skills as "very good"yougov.co.uk/society/arti…

— YouGov (@yougov.co.uk) 2025-02-28T11:48:03.703Z

% of Britons who correctly interpreted the following Roman numeralsIII as '3': 97%XVII as '17': 81%IX as '9': 74%LXXIV as '74': 50%CDXC as '490': 25%MDCLXVIII as '1668': 21%yougov.co.uk/society/arti…

— YouGov (@yougov.co.uk) 2025-02-28T11:48:03.704Z

This polling reminds me of an observation by a politician that you really cannot trust the public as the public vastly overestimate their understanding of things.

As somebody who loves using Roman numerals I find this polling but hilarious and sad at the same time. I think there is a clear correlation with people perceiving understanding Roman numerals as a sign of strong intellect so think they are cleverer than they actually are.

I think LXXXII per cent of people will think they get the subtle joke in the headline whereas the reality is maybe only XLIV will actually understand the joke.

TSE