Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Amazing

OK, it has been a while, but this is one that had to be addressed. People today tend to overuse superlatives. I try to reserve excellent, awesome, amazing, etc... for things that truly deserve those titles. Logically, only about 1-5% of whatever you're talking about should be excellent or amazing. If everything is amazing, then nothing is. These words are used to separate the regular from the positive irregular, not just to say you like something.
Nowhere is this trend more prevalent than the overuse of the word "amazing." People use this like "good'' now, especially some girls. If you want a quick way to see how badly this word is being misused, just listen to how it is pronounced. For example, "uh-MAY-zing" is pretty bad. You can bet that this is in regard to something from Finagle-A-Bagel or the like. Basically, the more butchered or drawn out the word is pronounced, the more not-amazing the subject matter will be. And just for reference, here is the definition of two the biggest offenders:

amazing (comparative more amazing, superlative most amazing)

Positive
amazing


Comparative
more amazing


Superlative
most amazing

  1. Causing wonder and amazement; possessing uniquely wonderful qualities.

unbelievable (comparative more unbelievable, superlative most unbelievable)

Positive
unbelievable


Comparative
more unbelievable


Superlative
most unbelievable

  1. Incredible; not to be believed.

  2. Implausible or improbable.

1 comment:

Lilac - Like The Flower said...

eh. its adjective grade inflation. everything has gone all superlative. Like "I MUST have those shoes." well, not really. or "I WILL cut you". er. no you wont.