From an internet report about world internet access.

quote:

China comes in at first from the bottom on new internet freedom survey.

A report released by Freedom House on Internet freedom has listed China dead last out of all nations surveyed.

No surprises there to anyone who lives here but I'm interested in that odd phrasing. We all know that when we say "second from last" we mean that only one is worse, and the second sentence makes it clear that China was actually last (of the countries surveyed). So why that strange use of "first from the bottom" rather than the simpler "bottom"?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BobHale,

I suppose it means that, counting from bottom to top, China is at the top of the list.

I agree, Bob. Before you commented, I thought it must be the UK way of saying things. However, then you thought it was odd too.

I do like those UK/US differences. Just the other day, someone from Scotland called concurrent sessions at conferences "parallel" sessions. We'd not say that. Also, his colleague's mother was having some laboratory tests done, which he called "investigations."