A Conversation for Modifying the Word 'Unique' and the Number '0' - Can It Be Done?
Loved it. Great article.
rotundity Started conversation Jul 19, 2005
Well, top marks for this. Definitely one of the weirdest and certainly one of the most diverse entries in the guide, and you even amanged it without going deep into mathematics and pendanticity, as I feared when I read the first few sentences. It's not so great on the front page, but I'm guessing it's going to be an Infinite Improbability Drive gem! Well done! By the way, the "not not unique" part, while being a gramtical error, is the vali use of the word unique. Did I get it right?
Loved it. Great article.
Orange A (formerly known as DunlopVolley) Posted Jul 19, 2005
I agree, absolutely fantastic.
Loved it. Great article.
Baron Grim Posted Jul 19, 2005
What's wrong with it being on the front page? Every Edited Guide Entry gets on the front page for a day at least. There used to be five a day. Then three. Now only two. This one was very good and exemplary of the type of article that should be in the EG, I think.
So, on a good front page entry.
Love you guys. Great responses.
hopandshout Posted Jul 20, 2005
ok, wow, this is officially weird. i stumbled on h2g2 a while ago and wrote that entry on a whim, in about an hour, in the middle of the night. since then it went to peer review, to obscurity, to being beaten around by various researchers, and then i find out it was on the front page after being published!
thank you for your kind responses. i was having a lot of fun with the entry but i didn't expect it to go anywhere, to be perfectly honest! cool thing, this internet. (and this h2g2)
i have another entry in the works but i'm afraid it's not very weird at all - just a music analysis thing. is that a sophomore slump i see up ahead?
h&s
Love you guys. Great responses.
Baron Grim Posted Jul 21, 2005
Hey, don't worry, there's plenty of music/band geeks who will probably love it here.
Check out the Musicians Guild U150368
Love you guys. Great responses.
SymonB Posted Feb 14, 2008
Well, I disagree with your analysis. I think that 'almost unique' is not good grammar. 'Unique' is not equivalent to a number. Of course something can be near a value, but unique specifically means 'one of a kind'. It's more like the word 'pregnant'. Can someone be almost pregnant? I think not. So, don't use modifiers with 'unique'.
Anyway, there it is, FWIW.
Cheers, Symon.
p.s. http://www.bbctraining.com/pdfs/newsstyleguide.pdf and look at the section 'Troublesome words'.
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Loved it. Great article.
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