Can something be VERY UNIQUE?

[Saracen]

Originally posted by Zathras
I hope the Pocket OED doesn't define unique as
because misspelling of 'its' isn't really acceptable for a top-end dictionary

ZING!!!!

Council for the defence would point out that my spelling is excellent, but that I can't (quickly checks that the apostrophe is appropriate) say the same for my concentration levels or typing abilities.



Saracen goes off to get a petty revenge by changing Zathras' (another quick check) User Title to Hexus NitPicker-in-Chief


And also waits for the discussion of whether a singular noun ending in s should be followed by 's or just '

[ZeroTheHero]

The two that get me are:

'almost exactly' - it's either almost OR exactly, it cannot be both...

'literally' - when used by football commentators (mostly). I have recently heard - "He literally ran his legs off" and "They are literally dying out there". Oddly enough neither was true

[Nick]

Unique is an absolute.

In your example, TiG, your candlesticks are unique, both collectively and individually. One candlestick cannot be 'more' unique than the other without defining the property making it unique. ie, 'This candlestick is unique amongst the others as it is silver and the rest are gold.', or, 'Each candlestick in my collection is unique.'

And, I too, can't stand overuse of commas, or, apostrophies, expecially when, if reading a sentence, the sentence could have been, and should have been, broken into one, or two, sentences.