Consider the utterance “Chinese people are good at mathematics.” People who think logically often have the habit of asking for clarification when met with that kind of utterance: “What do you mean? That all Chinese people are good at mathematics? That some Chinese people are good at mathematics?” Tradition in logic, mathematics, and other strongholds of logical thinking make many people interpret utterances like that as ambiguous, almost as if they’re fragmentary. Without a quantifier like “all” or “some,” the utterance “Chinese people are good at mathematics” is too slippery to hold onto. There’s no way to do anything with it. But the well-formed proposition “all Chinese people are good at mathematics”? False. The well-formed proposition “some Chinese people are good at mathematics”? True.
Some people who think logically reply more presumptuously: “Do you mean that all Chinese people are good at mathematics? That there are no Chinese people bad at mathematics? Preposterous!”
Next, consider the utterance “John makes good pancakes.” Imagine replying in a way analogous to the aforementioned tradition: “What do you mean? That John always makes good pancakes? That John sometimes makes good pancakes?”
More presumptuously: “Do you mean that John always makes good pancakes? That he never makes bad pancakes? Preposterous!”
The truth is that utterances like “Chinese people are good at mathematics” (which are normal to criticize) and “John makes good pancakes” (which, interestingly, are not normal to criticize, despite being analogous in that they also overgeneralize, in that they also take attention away from the exceptions) are ambiguous and fragmentary only logically—the logical meaning of such utterances is unclear, yes, but the social meaning, which is overwhelmingly the intended meaning too, is clear: Ultimately, the function of such utterances is to set up expectations, to pressure people to conform to standards. “Chinese people are good at mathematics” encourages Chinese people to live up to that expectation, and “John makes good pancakes” encourages John in the same way.