What are your pet peeves re English usage?

What a unique view of things you folks have!

I've always considered myself a minor expert in a number of fields. Is that even possible? Is one either an expert or not an expert with no minor/major modifications? Opinions eagerly solicited.

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As experts are not unique, there can be levels of expertise.

Like artists there can be small and big experts and, why not, minor ones.

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By the way, although no one has actually admitted it yet, Walter's quotation from the BBC agrees with me.

So ha!

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I'm quite unique......well, almost.

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"Quite" is a funny one on its own.

It can mean two opposite things:

It's quite perfect (=completely)

I quite like it (=not completely)

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Quite.

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What about the words "neither", and "Either"?

Neither-Pronounced-Neether, or nyther.

Either-Pronounced-Eether, or eyether.

I dunno, to me "either" sounds better, but I guess it's all a matter of personal preference.......I think?

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McTag wrote:

By the way, although no one has actually admitted it yet, Walter's quotation from the BBC agrees with me.

So ha!

no it doesnt it agrees with me in that there is no movement implied in the state of being unique. you cannot approach the state of being unique, you are never almost there.

i think.

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Steve (as 41oo) wrote:

McTag wrote:
By the way, although no one has actually admitted it yet, Walter's quotation from the BBC agrees with me.

So ha!

no it doesnt it agrees with me in that there is no movement implied in the state of being unique. you cannot approach the state of being unique, you are never almost there.

Yes it does

Quote:

Fine, then - you might say - so don't modify 'unique' and be done with it. However, it is possible to modify the word in a multitude of ways, none of which cause the problem described above. For example, one can describe a person as 'not at all unique,' or a situation as 'almost unique'. Since these descriptions do not contradict the uniqueness of the state of being unique, they do not create the same problem that phrases like 'sort of unique' do.

It is okay to say "almost unique" in a context like that.

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This is very good. I must say I share most of Evans' peeves.
Yoiu will recognise much of this, and shudder. Officialese.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4252520.stm

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Quite at the back there

....talking about poor

I remember my old headmaster at junior school insisting that we pronounced it poo-er, to differentiate it from pouring milk.

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Well i do seem to have set the cat among the pigeons!

Walter do you believe everything you read on the internet or only the things the BBC tells you? A well thought out argument however as others have indicated I remain unconvinced.
There is an animal in my paddock that looks like a sheep, it grazes, has wool shorn from it, cloven hooves, it is however an alpacca. How closely does it need to resemble a sheep to actually be a sheep.

Unique has a finallity in language.

How close to unique does it need to be before it is in fact unique. If an object is almost unique it is not unique. How close to zero do i need to be before it is actually zero. Almost zero ummm 3.5, .75421036 close but not zero "rant rant rant" sorry (No im not) well perhaps i am almost sorry or not very sorry or nearly sorry. Smile

165.25 might be almost zero if dealing with very large numbers but it is not zero.
McTag has an object in his hand Twisted Evil

, there is no other object like it in the world, it is unique. There are many like it, some very like it but none exactly the same. Is the object in his hand still unique? is it almost unique because there are several very like it? Laughing

Next question.

Are question marks redundant.
Do all questioning sentances have an ?operand that tell me a sentance is a question.
I'm actaully prepared to consider other opinions on this. Smile

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thought I'd posted this, must have got lost

I still think "almost unique" is a bit suspect. Certainly if you just think about the two words on their own.

It depends on what the "almost" means doesn't it? If almost means not all ie deficient in some way, say 95% but not 100%

then saying something is 95% unique is clearly junk

thats using almost as an adjective isnt it?

But if almost has a slightly different meaning i.e. implying movement of some sort (would it then be an adverb? I dont know...) then "almost unique" is acceptable as it clearly means

.... is moving towards the perfect state of uniqueness, but of course is not unique now.

Is this making any sense? Reluctant to debate use of English with a Scotsman Smile

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Steve (as 41oo) wrote:

Reluctant to debate use of English with a Scotsman

but agree on use of english with an aussie!!!! Shocked

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dadpad wrote:

I'm actaully prepared to consider other opinions on this.

Well that's refreshing, and may be a first for this thread. :wink:

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chichan wrote:

Most of the Usage Panel supports the traditional view. Eighty percent of the panelists disapprove of the sentence Her designs are quite unique in today's fashion.

http://www.bartleby.com/64/C003/0293.html

Then eighty percent of the panelists are unaware of the original meaning of "quite". Smile

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McTag wrote:

Then eighty percent of the panelists are unaware of the original meaning of "quite".

Okay I'll bite, teach me something McTag.

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quite in the sense of exact or absolute

1. To the greatest extent; completely: quite alone; not quite finished. See Usage Note at perfect.
2. Actually; really: I'm quite positive about it.
3. To a degree; rather: quite soon; quite tasty.

....as in 1

but not in 3

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dadpad wrote:

McTag wrote:

Then eighty percent of the panelists are unaware of the original meaning of "quite".

Okay I'll bite, teach me something McTag.

Okay if you look on the previous page, we were discussing this.
"Quite" can mean "completely" as well as "moderately".

And, by an amazing coincidence, the link which I gave on the same page, linking to a Harold Evans piece published by the BBC, goes into the same point in greater detail.

I believe the original (and still extant) meaning of "quite" is "completely"

e.g. "Have you quite finished?"

And so it is completely correct to say "quite unique". It means "totally unique"
So I beg to differ from the learned committee's reported remark.

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What are your pet peeves re English usage?

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