A brief history of linguistic aggravation (II)

Ammon Shea One problem is that speakers of English, including some of our most celebrated authors, have been seduced into joining the ranks of the Figurativists (perhaps thanks to loose morals and a healthy supply of good whiskey).When Vladimir Nabokov wrote, “And with his eyes he literally scoured the corners of the cell” in Invitation […]

Ammon Shea

One problem is that speakers of English, including some of our most celebrated authors, have been seduced into joining the ranks of the Figurativists (perhaps thanks to loose morals and a healthy supply of good whiskey).
When Vladimir Nabokov wrote, “And with his eyes he literally scoured the corners of the cell” in Invitation to a Beheading, he obviously did not mean that the protagonist had removed his eyes from his head and used them to feverishly scrub the walls. Similarly, in the scene from Tom Sawyer in which Tom has bamboozled several neighborhood boys into performing the task of whitewashing the fence, and received in return many fine treasures, we are given no indication that he was actually performing the action of rolling when Twain writes, “Tom was literally rolling in wealth.”
If you count yourself among the Literalists, the bad news is that this particular usage is unlikely to go away anytime soon. It has been used this way for about 250 years, and appears to be increasing in frequency. But English is a flexible language, and it generally is clear what people mean when they use literally, based on the context in which it is used. So the good news is that you will be able to understand what is being said, while at the same time basking in the warm glow of believing that the person with whom you are speaking has just literally (or figuratively, if you prefer) put their foot in their mouth.
THE ARGUMENT AGAINST using “unique” in any sort of a comparative fashion would seem, on its face, to be a sound one. After all, the inherent quality of unique is that it designates a singular thing or quality – saying that something is more unique is akin to saying that it is most best. Unique being manhandled in this comparative sense sticks in the craw of many, and once you start paying attention to this use you are likely to begin seeing (and hearing) it everywhere.
The word began to be used in English at the middle of the 16th century, adopted from French. It came to the French from the Latin word unicus, meaning “single of its kind.” The first sense in which it was used in English was to denote “something of which there is only one,” the sense that many people wish it had kept. It remained semantically pure for some time, and little used. Until the 19th century it was still largely considered to be a foreign interloper (the lexicographer Henry Todd referred to it as “an affected and useless term of modern times” in 1818). But when it began to be more widely adopted by writers, later in the 19th century, unique acquired the disagreeable habit of so many words that enter into common parlance: It began to broaden its meaning.
Although this debasement of unique continued throughout the 19th century, language watchers did not appear to pay much attention to it until the beginning of the 20th century. When they did sit up and take notice, there was widespread condemnation of this use, condemnation that continues to this day. In 1906, the Fowler brothers, writing in The King’s English, laid down what seemed to be a very simple rule: “A thing is unique, or not unique; there are no degrees of uniqueness.”
But the modified use of this word is exceedingly common. Evidence of this use may be found in modern dictionaries, all of which give a broadened meaning for unique in addition to the “singular” one.
The New Oxford American Dictionary gives a definition of “particularly remarkable, special, or unusual.” The most recent edition of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines it as “unusual,” in addition to the traditional meanings. The American Heritage Dictionary informs us that one of the word’s meanings is “remarkable; extraordinary.”
These dictionaries are not staffed with permissive slackers; such books are compiled by exceptionally learned people who spend a good deal of time looking at the English language and trying to create a written record that accurately reflects its use. If there is sufficient evidence that people are using a word in a certain manner, the dictionaries will take note of it and describe this usage. This is not to say that they will just write down any form of usage that is in vogue or overheard in the lunchroom; the words must have shown a prolonged use among what is generally considered to be the educated population.
If you would like guidance in the regard of how you should use unique, Kingsley Amis had some wise, albeit pessimistic words on the matter. He wrote that the habit of using it to simply mean “unusual” “is so notorious among the almost-literate that, like the split infinitive, anything reminiscent of it is best avoided.” While Amis allowed that some grades of unique might well make sense (such as “rather unique”), “I would not advise anybody to use it who fancies a quiet life.”
Reprinted from Bad English by Ammon Shea by arrangement with Perigee, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, ©2014 by Ammon Shea.

By Ammon Shea

One problem is that speakers of English, including some of our most celebrated authors, have been seduced into joining the ranks of the Figurativists (perhaps thanks to loose morals and a healthy supply of good whiskey).
When Vladimir Nabokov wrote, “And with his eyes he literally scoured the corners of the cell” in Invitation to a Beheading, he obviously did not mean that the protagonist had removed his eyes from his head and used them to feverishly scrub the walls. Similarly, in the scene from Tom Sawyer in which Tom has bamboozled several neighborhood boys into performing the task of whitewashing the fence, and received in return many fine treasures, we are given no indication that he was actually performing the action of rolling when Twain writes, “Tom was literally rolling in wealth.”
If you count yourself among the Literalists, the bad news is that this particular usage is unlikely to go away anytime soon. It has been used this way for about 250 years, and appears to be increasing in frequency. But English is a flexible language, and it generally is clear what people mean when they use literally, based on the context in which it is used. So the good news is that you will be able to understand what is being said, while at the same time basking in the warm glow of believing that the person with whom you are speaking has just literally (or figuratively, if you prefer) put their foot in their mouth.
THE ARGUMENT AGAINST using “unique” in any sort of a comparative fashion would seem, on its face, to be a sound one. After all, the inherent quality of unique is that it designates a singular thing or quality – saying that something is more unique is akin to saying that it is most best. Unique being manhandled in this comparative sense sticks in the craw of many, and once you start paying attention to this use you are likely to begin seeing (and hearing) it everywhere.
The word began to be used in English at the middle of the 16th century, adopted from French. It came to the French from the Latin word unicus, meaning “single of its kind.” The first sense in which it was used in English was to denote “something of which there is only one,” the sense that many people wish it had kept. It remained semantically pure for some time, and little used. Until the 19th century it was still largely considered to be a foreign interloper (the lexicographer Henry Todd referred to it as “an affected and useless term of modern times” in 1818). But when it began to be more widely adopted by writers, later in the 19th century, unique acquired the disagreeable habit of so many words that enter into common parlance: It began to broaden its meaning.
Although this debasement of unique continued throughout the 19th century, language watchers did not appear to pay much attention to it until the beginning of the 20th century. When they did sit up and take notice, there was widespread condemnation of this use, condemnation that continues to this day. In 1906, the Fowler brothers, writing in The King’s English, laid down what seemed to be a very simple rule: “A thing is unique, or not unique; there are no degrees of uniqueness.”
But the modified use of this word is exceedingly common. Evidence of this use may be found in modern dictionaries, all of which give a broadened meaning for unique in addition to the “singular” one.
The New Oxford American Dictionary gives a definition of “particularly remarkable, special, or unusual.” The most recent edition of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines it as “unusual,” in addition to the traditional meanings. The American Heritage Dictionary informs us that one of the word’s meanings is “remarkable; extraordinary.”
These dictionaries are not staffed with permissive slackers; such books are compiled by exceptionally learned people who spend a good deal of time looking at the English language and trying to create a written record that accurately reflects its use. If there is sufficient evidence that people are using a word in a certain manner, the dictionaries will take note of it and describe this usage. This is not to say that they will just write down any form of usage that is in vogue or overheard in the lunchroom; the words must have shown a prolonged use among what is generally considered to be the educated population.
If you would like guidance in the regard of how you should use unique, Kingsley Amis had some wise, albeit pessimistic words on the matter. He wrote that the habit of using it to simply mean “unusual” “is so notorious among the almost-literate that, like the split infinitive, anything reminiscent of it is best avoided.” While Amis allowed that some grades of unique might well make sense (such as “rather unique”), “I would not advise anybody to use it who fancies a quiet life.”
Reprinted from Bad English by Ammon Shea by arrangement with Perigee, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, ©2014 by Ammon Shea.