Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge.

[LeMartinPecheur]

...She-Who-Will-Be-Excoriated-&-Damned-In-Retrospect-For-The-Whole-Debacle...

A very sexist remark if I may say so! Shouldn't the greater 'credit' remain with estimable Mr Cameron??

[french frank]

... "least worst" seems to be growing in popularity :.

Among the biggest ones there is probably one that is the smallest, and is therefore the smallest biggest. And so on.

[gurnemanz]

Among the biggest ones there is probably one that is the smallest, and is therefore the smallest biggest. And so on.

"Least" is being used as an adverb qualifying "worst", which logically it can't. It might jar as usage for purists but does make sense. The explanation of the above example is OK by me , but here both "smallest" and "biggest" are adjectives qualifying whatever the noun is. So not a parallel case.

[french frank]

but here both "smallest" and "biggest" are adjectives qualifying whatever the noun is. So not a parallel case.

Once more, true

[french frank]

I don't know, though. Is it being used as an adverb? 'Least' can also be an adjective, saith the OED, as 'Less than any other in size, extent, or degree; smallest; slightest. Now chiefly with abstract nouns'.

And 'worst' as a noun is defined as ' That which is most unpleasant, grievous, unfortunate, painful, or hard to bear; a state of things that is most undesirable or most to be dreaded'.

So 'least worst' is adj + noun.

[vinteuil]

.

"No worst, there is none... "

... as the man said.


"No worst, there is none. Pitched past pitch of grief,
More pangs will, schooled at forepangs, wilder wring.
Comforter, where, where is your comforting?
Mary, mother of us, where is your relief?
My cries heave, herds-long; huddle in a main, a chief
Woe, wórld-sorrow; on an áge-old anvil wince and sing —
Then lull, then leave off. Fury had shrieked 'No ling-
ering! Let me be fell: force I must be brief."'

O the mind, mind has mountains; cliffs of fall
Frightful, sheer, no-man-fathomed. Hold them cheap
May who ne'er hung there. Nor does long our small
Durance deal with that steep or deep. Here! creep,
Wretch, under a comfort serves in a whirlwind: all
Life death does end and each day dies with sleep. "

.

[Wychwood]

"Least" is being used as an adverb qualifying "worst", which logically it can't. It might jar as usage for purists but does make sense.

Yes, it makes sense in that the intended meaning is conveyed. But it's a careless use of our language, and I don't mind being branded a "purist" in resisting that.

[Joseph K]

.

"No worst, there is none... "

... as the man said.


"No worst, there is none. Pitched past pitch of grief,
More pangs will, schooled at forepangs, wilder wring.
Comforter, where, where is your comforting?
Mary, mother of us, where is your relief?
My cries heave, herds-long; huddle in a main, a chief
Woe, wórld-sorrow; on an áge-old anvil wince and sing —
Then lull, then leave off. Fury had shrieked 'No ling-
ering! Let me be fell: force I must be brief."'

O the mind, mind has mountains; cliffs of fall
Frightful, sheer, no-man-fathomed. Hold them cheap
May who ne'er hung there. Nor does long our small
Durance deal with that steep or deep. Here! creep,
Wretch, under a comfort serves in a whirlwind: all
Life death does end and each day dies with sleep. "

.

I love that set of sonnets.

[LMcD]

... "least worst" seems to be growing in popularity :

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=least%20bad%2C%20least%20worst%2Cleast%20negative&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cleast%20bad%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cleast%20worst%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cleast%20negative%3B%2Cc0#t1%3B%2Cleast%20bad%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cleast%20worst%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cleast%20negative%3B%2Cc0

.

To his credit, John Major said 'least bad' yesterday when talking to Andrew Marr. (Mind you, most of what he said made more sense than the most of the rubbish emerging from current politicians' mouths at present).

[cloughie]

To his credit, John Major said 'least bad' yesterday when talking to Andrew Marr. (Mind you, most of what he said made more sense than the most of the rubbish emerging from current politicians' mouths at present).

Which is probably better than half good!

[LMcD]

A very sexist remark if I may say so! Shouldn't the greater 'credit' remain with estimable Mr Cameron??

You're referring, I take it, to Mark James Walter Cameron?

[gurnemanz]

I am a fully paid-up pedant but wouldn't swear that the words "least worst" have never slipped out of my mouth. If such things get into common parlance they can be very infectious. You can see why double superlatives catch on. People might say things like "most tastiest" as a knowingly jokey, maybe deliberately ungrammatical, piece of usage because the doubleness emphasises their point more strongly ("most strongest"). I don't know if Shakespeare used a double superlative but he was certainly not averse to a double negative.

[french frank]

I am a fully paid-up pedant but wouldn't swear that the words "least worst" have never slipped out of my mouth.

'The best of x unsatisfactory scenarii' probably wouldn't slip out quite as easily (n.b. 'the better', if only two such scenarii).

[LezLee]

The ‘most amount of money’ is frequently heard on quiz shows and from Lord Sugar on ‘The Apprentice’.

(Yes, I do watch some rubbish. I am not ashamed)

[Pabmusic]

... I don't know if Shakespeare used a double superlative but he was certainly not averse to a double negative.

This was the most unkindest cut of all. [Julius Caesar, Act 3, sc. II]