Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge.

[Padraig]

...which makes the expression "middle of the road" perhaps even more suspect, whether or not it might set teeth on edge...

You're right ah!

[ahinton]

You're right ah!

It happens occasionally, even if only by accident...

[P. G. Tipps]

It happens occasionally, even if only by accident...

It is potentially dangerous for anyone to assume that you could never be right occasionally, even if only by accident, ahinton.

[ahinton]

It is potentially dangerous for anyone to assume that you could never be right occasionally, even if only by accident, ahinton.

If you say so - but you omit, albeit perhaps accidentally rather than deliberately, even to speculate upon who might be exposed to such potential danger in such a circumstance?

[P. G. Tipps]

If you say so - but you omit, albeit perhaps accidentally rather than deliberately, even to speculate upon who might be exposed to such potential danger in such a circumstance?

Mere speculation in such a circumstance is also potentially dangerous, ahinton ...

[french frank]

Supplementing jean's OED quote, the noun 'danger' is defined:

a. Liability or exposure to harm or injury; the condition of being exposed to the chance of evil; risk, peril. (Directly from sense A. 1; see esp. A. 1d. Now the main sense.)

So surely the nouns 'liability', 'exposure', 'chance' and 'risk' all clearly contain the idea of potentiality when concerning the random victim, rather than the, in the case under discussion (behaviour, action), particular perpetrator (who may or may not also be the victim)?

[vinteuil]

... before you know it we'll be on to Caldwell and Cunningham recklessness and negligence

http://www.lawteacher.net/lecture-notes/criminal-law/mens-rea-lecture.php

http://e-lawresources.co.uk/Mens-rea-reckless.php

[ahinton]

Mere speculation in such a circumstance is also potentially dangerous, ahinton ...

Again, if you say so - but if that is indeed the case, you might have been wiser not to introduce what you did on #2898.

[doversoul1]

Internationally acclaimed baroque ensemble The English Concert explore present vivid retellings of the Christmas story from 17th-century France and Italy. At the heart of the programme are two stunning cantatas: Charpentier's In nativitatem Domini, a delicate retelling of the Christmas story, full of his characteristic delicacy and restrained passion, and Stradella's Ah! troppo è ver - a sublime and melodious lyrical outpouring.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06r5glx

This is just one of many web blurbs of this kind but it really does (set my teeth…). Pick any phrase you like. They are all as good as each other.

[P. G. Tipps]

Supplementing jean's OED quote, the noun 'danger' is defined:

a. Liability or exposure to harm or injury; the condition of being exposed to the chance of evil; risk, peril. (Directly from sense A. 1; see esp. A. 1d. Now the main sense.)

So surely the nouns 'liability', 'exposure', 'chance' and 'risk' all clearly contain the idea of potentiality when concerning the random victim, rather than the, in the case under discussion (behaviour, action), particular perpetrator (who may or may not also be the victim)?

Okay, then can we all at least agree that there is a difference between a potential danger eg, a) living on a flood plain but no rain has fallen to actually cause a flood and b) an actual danger where heavy rain has fallen and one's house is in imminent danger of being swamped?

To agree on degree (of danger) maybe ...

[gradus]

'Score-line'. An old irritant.

[Serial_Apologist]

Internationally acclaimed baroque ensemble The English Concert explore present vivid retellings of the Christmas story from 17th-century France and Italy. At the heart of the programme are two stunning cantatas: Charpentier's In nativitatem Domini, a delicate retelling of the Christmas story, full of his characteristic delicacy and restrained passion, and Stradella's Ah! troppo è ver - a sublime and melodious lyrical outpouring.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06r5glx

This is just one of many web blurbs of this kind but it really does (set my teeth…). Pick any phrase you like. They are all as good as each other.

Indeed, it's what I would call what I would call hyperbolics. Underneath that second paragraph you've quoted, DS, it re-invites you to "show less"; and I did!

[jean]

Okay, then can we all at least agree that there is a difference between a potential danger eg, a) living on a flood plain but no rain has fallen to actually cause a flood and b) an actual danger where heavy rain has fallen and one's house is in imminent danger of being swamped?

I wouldn't join in the agreement.

I think the potential for disaster occasioned to someone living on a flood plain is already present in the word danger.

[Bryn]

As has been suggested elsewhere on the Internet, an unattended item of luggage may be considered potentially dangerous. If it contains not bomb, it is probably not actually dangerous. However, it it does contain a bomb, the danger is not merely potential.

[jean]

I don't think you'd ever use the word 'dangerous', however qualified, to describe the abandoned suitcase. Picking it up would be dangerous, though.