> If you're in a class, you will soon hear the overused phrase "The plural of anecdote is not data". > You can out-smartass them by replying "Actually, it is".

I don't think it is. The plural of anecdote is probably something more like "a lot of single points without any care taken to correct for variables."

To get real data there needs to be a lot than just more anecdotes. There needs to be careful measurement, followed by correction for a lot of other factors.

Here's one example: "I've never seen this tree before. I wonder if those fruits are edible"

"It's just an anecdote, but my father ate one of those, started throwing up 30min later, and died the same day."

"What did he do before that?"

"Oh, he swam the dirty river, then started playing with that striped snake over there. He was a brave man, what with his heart problems and the cancer."