I've been having an argument with my girlfriend for a while now. Is it OK to say that something is 'very unique.' She thinks that something is either unique or not unique. There is no 'very unique.' There are no degrees of uniqueness.
Help settle our little dispute, and save our relationship from certain peril. What say the experts in this tribe?
Help settle our little dispute, and save our relationship from certain peril. What say the experts in this tribe?
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Re: Very unique
Mon, March 1, 2004 - 8:55 PMAlthough it's not important enough a distinction for me to get into an argument over it, I'd say she's right. "Unique", in its pure form, connotes singularity. It needs no intensifier.
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Unsu...
Re: Very unique
Mon, March 1, 2004 - 9:01 PMWhat? Really? I say pick your battles! heh heh heh
No, but I would have to agree that something can be very unique. It is like saying someone is very gracious. We could argue and say that one is either gracious or not gracious, but in the end it means what you mean it to mean...heh
Now I suppose the this could apply with the word "pretty" or "beautiful" as well. There is very pretty, pretty and then the ideal of being pretty. I think it is whatever you deem appropriate. Very unique can apply to your ideal of being unique...which might just be pretty damn unique.
It is simple really, and I hope this helps- for whatever it is worth..just a bunch of bullshit with good intentions.
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Re: Very unique
Mon, March 1, 2004 - 9:12 PMI throw my gauntlet in your general direction.
Your argument is as hole-y as whiffleball. All the examples you use are concepts that easily accommodate a spectrum of degrees. I believe his girlfriend is right becaus "unique" by its very definition, brooks no degrees. -
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Unsu...
Re: Very unique
Mon, March 1, 2004 - 9:17 PMheh
like I said- just a bunch of bullshit with good intentions. good or bad, right or wrong, it is what it is..
I do like the whiffle ball analogy though! -
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Re: Very unique
Mon, March 1, 2004 - 9:47 PMI'd give Spidra higher marks in a math PhD oral exam. Unique means there is exactly one of something. If asked how many there are, you can't say "Very one". At least not without getting some puzzled looks.
Should we be on a quest for lovers of unique qualities, Lisa would be happily ensconced in a menage a poly of the merely excellent, while I was still trudging around in search of The One. -
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Unsu...
Re: Very unique
Mon, March 1, 2004 - 9:58 PMok- Spidra does have the upper hand here. I think the arguement is silly. But I will agree it is singular. I was just bullshitting and rambling for the sake of rambling which is a "thing" I do sometimes...
Some people like to emphatically state certain things. I always catch shit because I use more than one exclamation point (!!!) when I write e mail, or get accused of being overly inquisitive if I use more than one question mark at the end of a question(???)
I blame "very unique" on that point, and that is about all I have to say on the matter! : ) -
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Re: Very unique
Mon, March 1, 2004 - 10:29 PMLisa, you are falling down on the job and not being very pedantic at all!!!!
- Modesty
- Admitting you are wrong
- Admitting you are losing
- Not having the last word
- Not wanting to be silly
Are you going to shape up now???? This isn't AOL any more!!!!
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Re: Very unique
Mon, March 1, 2004 - 11:12 PM"Unique means there is exactly one of something. If asked how many there are, you can't say 'Very one'. At least not without getting some puzzled looks."
Yes this is pretty much the line of my girlfriend's argument. Having studied classics, she also points out that unique is derived from the latin (or greek, can't remember which) word for "one."
My argument goes something like this. If you have three things, lets say balls, two of them are identical, let's say red and the third different, let's say blue, then the blue ball is unique. OK so far.
Now let's say we have a billion things, balls again, and all of them are the same, red that is, except for one, the blue ball. I would say that the blue ball is "very unique."
We also heard someone on the radio, with a very good academic background, describe someone as "uniquely unique" which brought a whole new fervour to my argument. -
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Unsu...
Re: Very unique
Mon, March 1, 2004 - 11:25 PMok- I will shape up- I blame everything I said tonight on frivolity..or banality.. I will not take responsibility at all.
How is that ?
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Re: Very unique
Mon, March 1, 2004 - 11:36 PMYour argument makes some sense, although I don't think that the meaning is obvious and unambiguous enough to occur immediately to everyone who sees the phrase. If you really did want to express the red and blue ball comparison and make sure the listener understands it, you would have to give the whole explanation you give below, or say that the blue ball in the second situation is rarer, or is unique among a larger set. "unique" with a qualifying phrase like that is common in math, since of course you have to specify what set you are talking about. In conclusion, I don't think your proposed usage is now current in science, math or logic, or would provide more concise expression if introduced into those precision-requiring contexts.
I would have to hear more about the context for "uniquely unique" to tell what was meant. I think the argument that it's not obvious also applies. It's possible that it is jargon with an established meaning in some field I haven't heard of, though I doubt it.
In colloquial usage and especially advertising, "unique" means no more than slightly unusual, and its meaning is more of a sociological question. I would say it's one of many words used for effect that are losing the desired effect from overuse and misuse, and will soon be so tired even advertisers won't use it. -
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Re: Very unique
Mon, March 1, 2004 - 11:38 PM"give below" while I was posting should be "give above" in the finished post! Can you say "geometrically misleading user interface"?
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overuse and mis-use
Tue, March 2, 2004 - 7:08 AMWow, those are literally unique!!! Like, you know??? All of 'em!!!
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Re: Very unique
Tue, March 2, 2004 - 1:33 AM> I'd give Spidra higher marks in a math PhD oral exam.
The funny thing is that I suck at math. Though I'm good at oral. -
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Re: Very unique
Tue, March 2, 2004 - 7:41 AMAnd everybody's overjoyed at that!However you now can't ever change your photo since it goes so well with the statement... -
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Re: Very unique
Tue, March 2, 2004 - 8:00 AM"The funny thing is that I suck at math. Though I'm good at oral."
Oh, I'm sure you suck at that too.</obvious>
And Lisa, you still don't get it. Take responsibility for your frivolous banality! Rejoice in it!
Anyhow, the dictionary.com usage note on "unique" covers this topic, and also uses the delightful word "shibboleth", which apparently isn't something Lovecraft invented.
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Re: Very unique
Thu, March 4, 2004 - 11:51 AMRegarding your one blue ball analogy: I think the more apppropriate way to describe the one in a million ball would be "highly exceptional" or "more unusual" rather than "very unique". Given the context of both scenarios, people will probably understand what you are saying, but readers do not always have the benefit of context. "Unique" is an Absolute Adjective in that it has no degrees. Other words in this category are: comfortless, dead, pregnant, perfect, satisfied. An object can of course be more nearly unique, but that means something else. -
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More perfect
Thu, March 4, 2004 - 2:47 PMWe the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, -
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Re: More perfect
Sun, March 7, 2004 - 12:06 AMI actually just got into a heated discussion with someone about that very instance of "perfect" being qualified. In the context of the Constitution, the word "perfect" does not mean "flawless," but rather "thoroughly done" which back in the day was its more common usage. Only over time and actual misapplication has it come to mean something absolute. So the founding fathers were not incorrect in qualifying what back then was NOT an absolute adjective. For more info, look at the use of the term "perfect" in the context of grammatical tenses, e.g., Present Perfect Tense (I have heard of this). The label has nothing to do with flawlessness. It would be nice if every word had exactly one meaning, and that for all eternity. But at the end of the day words mean what the majority of people think they mean. -
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Re: More perfect
Tue, May 18, 2004 - 9:16 PM(There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead.)
As to 'uniquely unique', it's not hard to imagine examples. As Brian has assured us, we are all individuals. Each of us is special--just like everyone else. Sesame Street comforts us that we're all the best at something: being ourselves. Sadly, there's nothing unique about such uniqueness.
An object which has a larger number of singular qualities than any other in the group being referenced would be 'uniquely unique'.
Digression from what's been nothing but digression: in Japanized English, 'iuniiku' is used to refer to someone who's a bit a of a kook, a crank, or crackpot. -
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Re: More perfect
Fri, May 21, 2004 - 5:06 PMFor that matter, the Japanese word for "different" (chigau) is also the usual word for "wrong". -
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Re: More perfect
Sun, May 23, 2004 - 1:53 PMTangents upon tangents! The French word for "left" as in handedness, is, well, "gauche". And as I recall, the word "sinister" has similar origins.
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Re: 'iuniiku' is used to refer to someone who's a bit a of a kook, a crank, or crackpot.
Mon, June 21, 2004 - 7:34 AM...and artists. a lot of japanese artists are 'yuuniiku' -- almost uniformly so.
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Re: Very unique
Wed, July 28, 2004 - 2:52 PMHow funny...I started this same question / thread in the "Word Freaks" tribe. If you care to "beat this dead horse into the ground" take a look over there.
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Re: Very unique
Thu, August 26, 2004 - 10:22 AMIf the sex is good, just agree with whatever she says.
