Likely, unlikely, possible, probable

About six years ago, the journal published by an American business school carried an article with the intriguing title, If You Say Something Is "Likely," How Likely Do People Think It Is? The subject of the article was the imprecision of the words that are used to convey the likelihood (or otherwise) of some event or outcome and how that can be corrected. Since promises and expectations lie at the heart of savings and investment choices that we make, I found the study fascinating, but some of the suggestions are a little suspect.