Can something be VERY UNIQUE?

[TiG]

The question is can something be very unique.

I think English and Maths rules out the posibility of anything being very unique, (unique being an absolute term)

but in modern day society if something has a lot of unique qualities, is it not acceptable to call something very unique.

If Unique is not a quantifiable value then does it not become trivial?.

/me waits for dabeenster to kill me on this

TiG

[Moby-Dick]

I think you need to provide an example of this to claify your point

[TiG]

I've got 67 candlesticks, 66 of them are gold, 1 is silver, each is hand crafted and unique, each looks different.

However one the silver one is very unique within the 67 candlestick subset, as it has more than one unique factor over the other 66.

Therefore its uniqueness is more.

I think thats what i'm trying to say.

TiG

[Enverex]

No, they are all equally unique. Something is either unique or not, as it basically means of a kind. Something cant be one of a kind more than something else is one of a kind.

So basically...

Is it one of a Kind?
Yes = Unique
No = Not Unique

NS

[joshwa]

all those candles are unique, one of them is "special"

[TiG]

I've already made this point, and as I said in modern language I think it is acceptable.

I'm looking at unique as in terms of qualities of the item, you look at unique in terms of the whole item.

This is the whole point of the discussion.

A 6ft marmalade man is certainly unique, but the fact that marmalade is 6ft tool, is a man shape, and moves is many items of unique qualities, therefore i would define him as very unique, I know this is not correct within Maths or in English, but then again i'm saying its a slang term that should be acceptable yet appears not to be.

Being a pedant here won't help anyone.

TIG

[joshwa]

yeah i agree with you
I was just being silly.

if i had 67 unique candles and one was a cut above the rest, better, more special etc, then i would probably just say "look at this one, this one's really unique"

[daverobev]

I disagree....VERY different, VERY special if you like.

Unique means one of a kind, end. There is the argument that language is constantly shifting, which is true. Wiffe and all that.

But can you imagine going to a used car dealer and having them say, oh YES sir, this car is VERY unique! <<rubs hands together>>

Just ain't right, innit.

[TeePee]

Surely it's slang for 'Very near to unique'?

[TiG]

Daverobev,

Yes i can imagine a car dealer going this car is very unique, the car is very unique because its in sky blue pink, it has a Nitrous oxide powered engine and has a 6ft wing on the back,

Three qualities of the car that are unique that makes the car very unique. Each car is unique - its each one of a kind, which means its just "the one" - from what i can understand from latin (unicus)

Don't get me wrong - i expect everyone to have their own view on this, but i'm think i'm happy enough to use incorrect grammar, my english isn't that great anyway so i'm happy to accept very unique in those circumstances that i deem it fit

TiG

[Saracen]

Originally posted by TiG
Yes i can imagine a car dealer going this car is very unique, the car is very unique because its in sky blue pink, it has a Nitrous oxide powered engine and has a 6ft wing on the back,

I'm with daverobev on this - there can, by defintion, be no such thing as "very unique", unless you have someone that does not understand the word using it incorrectly.

Could that sort of incorrect use happen? Yeah, sure it could. I'd put money on the fact that it does, but all that proves is that the person doing it does not understand the word.

Words change. Language evolves. Take a look at what "gay" meant 50 years ago, and contrast with what many people would probably assume it meant if used today. While the original meaning is still technically correct, it is relatively rare to hear it used in that way today - with perhaps context being the only indication as to the users true intent when they use the word. For an even more overt, yet similar (and on the same theme) corruption of language, consider "queer". Had you called someone queer 50 years ago, they'd have assumed you meant odd or strange. Calling someone queer these days is likely to offend, whatver the sensitivities and sexual orientation of the person referred to. The term itself is regarded as offensive, and best avoided when used in relation to people.

So the same sort of fluid adaptation could happen with "very unique", I suppose. But, personally, I hope not. It is not an adaptation of meaning, like gay, but a fundamental failure to understand the meaning of the current word.

The Pocket Oxford Dictionary defines 'unique' as

being the only one of it's kind, having no like or equal or parallel

So "very unique" amounts to 'very one of a kind'. Either something is unique or it isn't, and if it is, it can't be very unique. In the car example, it might be "very unusual", or "almost unique", or maybe even "unique", but not very unique.

[VladTheImpaler]

Conceptually, there cannot be something that is 'very unique'. That is a bit like saying that infinity +1 is something different to infinity.

[Zathras]

I hope the Pocket OED doesn't define unique as

being the only one of it's kind, having no like or equal or parallel

because misspelling of 'its' isn't really acceptable for a top-end dictionary

[TiG]

I think this discussion at work today brought out this type of pedantic behaviour too

TiG

[Zathras]

Just wait until I get started on the misuse of "infinity" and people falsely talking about order relations on statements containing infinity

[ACiD303]

I'm looking at unique as in terms of qualities of the item, you look at unique in terms of the whole item.

In that case, "Unique" is a subjective term