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Is there a single word for someone who likes or loves to examine statistics?

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    Statisto-phile, statisto-philia?
    – Blessed Geek
    Jun 22, 2014 at 10:07
  • This is a "sports fan"!
    – Hot Licks
    Mar 7, 2019 at 23:13

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A statistician is one who collects and/or works with statistics. You are unlikely to find a single word in wide use for someone who enjoys consuming statistics as an amateur pastime, although people often coin such words as needed by appending -[o]phile or -[o]holic to the root word, or to a derivative of it: statophile, statoholic.

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  • Thanks. Statophile and statoholic are probably the closest it can get to what I was looking for.
    – emlai
    Jun 22, 2014 at 0:28
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    Be aware, however, that statistician is a professional term (like physicist, biologist, astronomer, psychologist, etc.), and should not be applied to anyone who does not have a professional qualification, occasionally under legal licensing laws. I.e, it doesn't apply to amateurs, unless it's prefixed with the word amateur.
    – John Lawler
    Jun 22, 2014 at 1:02
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    Please note that stato- is a Greek prefix for standing/resting/not moving, so a 'statophile' might be a good, fancy word for a couch potato as well!
    – anongoodnurse
    Jun 22, 2014 at 2:13
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    Also keep in mind that -[o]holic tends to connote an overabundance of or an obsession with something bordering on dangerous (also addictions).
    – skeggse
    Jun 22, 2014 at 3:24
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The closest I can think of is a number-cruncher:

a person or thing that performs a great many numerical calculations, as a financial analyst, statistician, computer, or computer program.

More generic words for people who like math are nerd and geek or coined words like mathophile.

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Quantophrenia n. Excessive reliance on or use of facts and figures that can be derived using statistical or mathematical procedures

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This is a bit more work-related than what you’re asking, but in a business context, someone who focuses on analysing things numerically is a quant.

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In UK slang: Statto!

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Angus Loughran... rose to fame as "Statto", the resident statistician on the BBC Two television show Fantasy Football League. Clad in a dressing gown and pyjamas, he would stand in the corner of the set and provide facts and figures on each of the guests' fantasy football teams, while being made fun of by hosts Frank Skinner and David Baddiel.

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  • And an American equivalent is something like "stats geek."
    – Tom Au
    Jun 22, 2014 at 22:43
  • @TomAu I think that's more an English language description than it is 'American slang'...
    – OJFord
    Jun 22, 2014 at 23:15
  • @OllieFord: I always think of nerd and geek as quite American words, but that might just be because I watched Saved by the Bell too much (i.e. at all) as a youth. “Boffin” was the equivalent UK term for “geek” or “nerd” in my school days.
    – Paul D. Waite
    Jun 22, 2014 at 23:37
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    Haha, I haven't heard that since middle school (we have them in my area) when 'dweeb' was also popular. Different connotations though, I would suggest 'boffin' can be used similarly to '-buff'.
    – OJFord
    Jun 23, 2014 at 10:42

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