What they say	What they mean
"It has long been known..."	I didn't look up the original reference.
"A definite trend is evident..."	These data are practically meaningless.
"Of great theoretical and practical importance."	Interesting to me.
"While it has not been possible to provide definite answers to these questions."	This was an unsuccessful experiment, but I still hope to get it published.
"Three of the samples were chosen for detailed study."	The others made no sense.
"Typical results are shown."	The best results are shown.
"The most reliable results are those obtained by Jones."	He was my grad assistant.
"It is believed that..."	I think.
"It is generally believed that..."	A couple of other guys think so too.
"It is clear that such additional work will be required before a complete understanding of the phenomenon is possible."	I don't understand it.
"Correct within an order of magnitude."	Wrong.
"It is hoped that this study will stimulate more work in this field."	This is a lousy paper but so are the others in this crummy field.
"Thanks are due to Joe Blotz for assistance with the experimental work and George Frink for valuable discussions."	Blotz did the work, and Frink explained to me what it meant.
"A careful analysis of obtainable data..."	Three pages of notes were obliterated when I knocked over a glass of beer.
"A statistically oriented projection of the findings."	Wild guess.