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Very unique??
2

Very unique??

Very unique??

(OP)
Is it improper to add a modifier to the term unique, or is just being unique as singular as it gets?

RE: Very unique??

I've always believed that unique means one of a kind, therefore no modifier is necessary, it's a digital thing - whilst you can have many of the same kind of things, there is only one 'thing' - it's as good as it gets.

Ed

RE: Very unique??

From the Webster's Collegiate Dictionary:

...UNUSUAL (we were fairly unique, the sixty of us, in that there wasn't one mixer in the bunch)-J.D.Salinger; (a very unique ball-point pen).

The dictionary continues in demonstrating that the modification, as by very, somewhat, almost, of unique is correct.

RE: Very unique??

Whilst I can understand the term 'fairly unique' in the sense of tending towards a limit of something which is unique, and a very unique ball-point pen which is special and therefore different and by definition not unique, I refer you to the Oxford dic. which says of unique: of which there is only one.

Is it then sensible to ask if something is uniquely unique?
Ed,

Hey, Its New Years day and I'm Scottish

RE: Very unique??


Look at the logic of it.
Ball point pens. Everybody knows there are a great many different ball point pens.
Ahh, but a unique ball point pen!
Hypothetical examples:
1)A great man autographs one (and only one) ball point pen. No doubt, that pen is unique. Now is it logical to embelish unique with truly unique, splendidly unique, absoloutely unique? Perhaps, if it were going to auction.
2) The same great man this time once and only once autographs a batch of ball point pens. Now in this case the entire batch could be called unique. However, no longer could any individual pen qualify as unique. They could qualify as rare. Fairly unique seems inappropriate.
HAPPY NEW YEAR


RE: Very unique??

How about a color?  If something is red, can it only be one red?  It ain't blue or green, it's RED.  It's either red or not-red eh?  I think not.

Part of our problem as a society is that we don't have room for grey.  A great example is "you are either with us or against us".  BS !!!  

I think there is room for modifiers to unique.

RE: Very unique??

(OP)
I’ve only been watching this particular group for a month or so, and the discussion came over the usage of the word up at a family gathering over Christmas.  So I apologize to Digger42J (and also to Metman who started the previous thread) for the repetition.

So, now it seems (to me at least) that the proper use of the term unique only applies to a one of a kind or singular occurrence and to add a modifier is to add excessive verbiage.  I think the slightly pregnant example sewed it up.

I tend disagree with the black/white and lack of grey argument. I now think a different word should be used if embellishment is desired, or perhaps don't try to asign a color to something that is clear.



RE: Very unique??

"So I apologize to Digger42J ..."

No need to apologize to me. I thought I'd seen it discussed earlier and simply siezed the opportunity to make a wisecrack...

RE: Very unique??

Kind of unique though.

RE: Very unique??


Come on guys - try to keep up!

We hashed it out in Thread1010-89559 !

Good Luck
johnwm
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RE: Very unique??

From Gurunet:

USAGE NOTE   For many grammarians, unique is the paradigmatic absolute term, a shibboleth that distinguishes between those who understand that such a term cannot be modified by an adverb of degree or a comparative adverb and those who do not. These grammarians would say that a thing is either unique or not unique and that it is therefore incorrect to say that something is very unique or more unique than something else. Most of the Usage Panel supports this traditional view. Eighty percent disapprove of the sentence Her designs are quite unique in today's fashions. But as the language of advertising in particular attests, unique is widely used as a synonym for worthy of being considered in a class by itself, extraordinary and if so construed it may arguably be modified. In fact, unique appears as a modified adjective in the work of many reputable writers. A travel writer states that “Chicago is no less unique an American city than New York or San Francisco,” for example, and the critic Fredric Jameson writes “The great modern writers have all been defined by the invention or production of rather unique styles.” Although these examples of the qualification of unique are defensible, writers should be aware that such constructions are liable to incur the censure of some readers. See Usage Notes at absolute, equal, infinite.

RE: Very unique??

from ctmtwilliams: "excessive verbiage"

A friend of mine once combined "verbiage" and "garbage" to coin the term "varbage."  I like it.  (I doubt that a definition is needed here.)

RE: Very unique??

It all come down to usage, unique is unique, one only.
If you use it in any other way, I think that unique then takes on the role of being a modifier or a lazy writers usage as a replacement for another word.
 

Naresuan University
Phitsanulok
Thailand

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