Per Capita .. Ad Astra

[toucana]

THE PRESIDENT: And, you know, when you say “per capita,” there’s many per capitas. It’s, like, per capita relative to what? But you can look at just about any category, and we’re really at the top, meaning positive on a per capita basis, too. They’ve done a great job.

— Remarks by President Trump in a Meeting with Governor Hutchinson of Arkansas and Governor Kelly of Kansas, whitehouse.gov, 20 May 2020

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-meeting-governor-hutchinson-arkansas-governor-kelly-kansas/

[Serpent]

Yes, and? His voter base has no problem understanding that:
blah, blah, blah, top, blah blah blah, great
We're number one!

[toucana]

Per capita is Latin and means "according to the heads". (Capita is an accusative neuter plural governed by the preposition per. The nominative singular form of the noun is Caput).

Unless you have a population whose members happen to possess more than one head apiece, then there really isn't any ambiguity as to what per capita usually means - i.e. "per person"

The only variation found in medieval legal Latin is per stirpes which is a wording sometimes found in wills, meaning bequests given "per branch of the family" as opposed to per capita.

[TheVat]

Unless you have a population whose members happen to possess more than one head apiece...

X>)

One of the small silver linings to be found in the cloud of presidents whose educational, and overall cognitive, development is not what one might hope for in such a position of leadership...is the entertainment value in listening to them blather on. I used to think George W. Bush led the pack in this regard, but then Trump came along and left him behind in a cloud of dust. It's possible that Senator James Inhofe (Oklahoma) could be a worthy competitor in this race, but at age 85 is likely now a candidate only for retirement.

[toucana]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBrPZpwtFHo