Superlatives are big, stout and fast.
Used sparingly and with care, they hit the bull’s-eye like Jonah Lomu the try line. That’s why we fear them. And that’s why people try to tame them.
The common taming consists in multiplying adverbs – ‘Arguably, Jonah Lomu is probably the best rugby player ever’.
Or in adding adverbial complements – ‘Jonah Lomu was regarded as the best player by the world of rugby in the mid 90s‘.
Or worse, by depriving the superlative of its uniqueness – ‘Jonah Lomu was regarded as one of the sport’s most intimidating players on the field‘ – Needless to say that I found the last example on the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.
Using ‘one of the‘ in front of your superlative is worse than a tackle. It’s like kneecapping Jonah Lomu with a baseball bat at 5 meters from the try line.
If your superlative is as powerful as Jonah Lomu, there’s a strong chance that you won’t stop it from scoring. But when it comes to tourism, arts or design, texts are loaded with superlatives. They don’t achieve their purpose anymore because they weaken one another.
So use your superlatives sparingly. There’s only one Jonah Lomu.
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AfrikaansAlbanianArabicArmenianAzerbaijaniBasqueBelarusianBulgarianCatalanChinese (Simplified)Chinese (Traditional)CroatianCzechDanishDetect languageDutchEnglishEstonianFilipinoFinnishFrenchGalicianGeorgianGermanGreekHaitian CreoleHebrewHindiHungarianIcelandicIndonesianIrishItalianJapaneseKoreanLatinLatvianLithuanianMacedonianMalayMalteseNorwegianPersianPolishPortugueseRomanianRussianSerbianSlovakSlovenianSpanishSwahiliSwedishThaiTurkishUkrainianUrduVietnameseWelshYiddish⇄AfrikaansAlbanianArabicArmenianAzerbaijaniBasqueBelarusianBulgarianCatalanChinese (Simplified)Chinese (Traditional)CroatianCzechDanishDutchEnglishEstonianFilipinoFinnishFrenchGalicianGeorgianGermanGreekHaitian CreoleHebrewHindiHungarianIcelandicIndonesianIrishItalianJapaneseKoreanLatinLatvianLithuanianMacedonianMalayMalteseNorwegianPersianPolishPortugueseRomanianRussianSerbianSlovakSlovenianSpanishSwahiliSwedishThaiTurkishUkrainianUrduVietnameseWelshYiddish
Detect language » French
AfrikaansAlbanianArabicArmenianAzerbaijaniBasqueBelarusianBulgarianCatalanChinese (Simplified)Chinese (Traditional)CroatianCzechDanishDetect languageDutchEnglishEstonianFilipinoFinnishFrenchGalicianGeorgianGermanGreekHaitian CreoleHebrewHindiHungarianIcelandicIndonesianIrishItalianJapaneseKoreanLatinLatvianLithuanianMacedonianMalayMalteseNorwegianPersianPolishPortugueseRomanianRussianSerbianSlovakSlovenianSpanishSwahiliSwedishThaiTurkishUkrainianUrduVietnameseWelshYiddish⇄AfrikaansAlbanianArabicArmenianAzerbaijaniBasqueBelarusianBulgarianCatalanChinese (Simplified)Chinese (Traditional)CroatianCzechDanishDutchEnglishEstonianFilipinoFinnishFrenchGalicianGeorgianGermanGreekHaitian CreoleHebrewHindiHungarianIcelandicIndonesianIrishItalianJapaneseKoreanLatinLatvianLithuanianMacedonianMalayMalteseNorwegianPersianPolishPortugueseRomanianRussianSerbianSlovakSlovenianSpanishSwahiliSwedishThaiTurkishUkrainianUrduVietnameseWelshYiddish
Detect language » French
AfrikaansAlbanianArabicArmenianAzerbaijaniBasqueBelarusianBulgarianCatalanChinese (Simplified)Chinese (Traditional)CroatianCzechDanishDetect languageDutchEnglishEstonianFilipinoFinnishFrenchGalicianGeorgianGermanGreekHaitian CreoleHebrewHindiHungarianIcelandicIndonesianIrishItalianJapaneseKoreanLatinLatvianLithuanianMacedonianMalayMalteseNorwegianPersianPolishPortugueseRomanianRussianSerbianSlovakSlovenianSpanishSwahiliSwedishThaiTurkishUkrainianUrduVietnameseWelshYiddish⇄AfrikaansAlbanianArabicArmenianAzerbaijaniBasqueBelarusianBulgarianCatalanChinese (Simplified)Chinese (Traditional)CroatianCzechDanishDutchEnglishEstonianFilipinoFinnishFrenchGalicianGeorgianGermanGreekHaitian CreoleHebrewHindiHungarianIcelandicIndonesianIrishItalianJapaneseKoreanLatinLatvianLithuanianMacedonianMalayMalteseNorwegianPersianPolishPortugueseRomanianRussianSerbianSlovakSlovenianSpanishSwahiliSwedishThaiTurkishUkrainianUrduVietnameseWelshYiddish
Detect language » French
Retouïte, partage, fais comme bon te semble:
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J’aime chargement…
this is the greatest Edinburgh based architectural translation blog!
Travelling around in Asia Simone and I often read what our guide book had to say about the places we were visiting. I soon noticed what I came to call the superlative war. Almost every town had a couple of superlatives to visit and to admire. Not that I took them at face value, I often asked myself: how the hell do they know that this is the highest pine tree or the largest sweet shop in the world? They must have done a hell of travelling and measuring in order to state it. I did not really care about those superlatives. As you say, so much superlative ends up weakening one another.
My favourite one was the large Buddha in Lantau, near Hong-Kong. According to the guide book and to wikipedia, it was the world’s tallest outdoor bronze seated Buddha. Somewhere in the world, I thought, there must be a taller outdoor bronze lying Buddha, a taller outdoor bronze standing Buddha, a taller indoor bronze seated Buddha, even a fatter outdoor bronze seated one. Not to mention Buddhas made of gold, stone, even plastic. There are a whole lot of big Buddhas in the world! I felt dizzy at the thought so I decided I’d better not climb the steps to visit Lantau’s Buddha. I am sure it is quite an impressive sight though.
Thank you for the feedback Guillermo!