word aversion

[aroraborealis]

Do you have any word aversions?

I have one: "pit" (but only when describing holes or hole-like areas (armpit, tree pit, etc, not, say, when describing the stones in fruit).

Comments

Re: It's all about the context

[dbang.livejournal.com]

I disagree vehemently (a great word) that someone who knows what the word "unique" means wouldn't "produce phrases like 'more unique'".

Re: It's all about the context

[drwex]

I agree that "vehement" is an excellent word in all its forms.

I'm given to understand that "unique" means "one of a kind" and that therefore it's a form of nonsense to claim that something is "more one-of-a-kind." It appears to be a confusion between "unique" and "unusual."

Am I missing something?

Re: It's all about the context

[dbang.livejournal.com]

You are missing that something can be unique on more axes than than something else.

All snowflakes are unique, but a snowflake with only five spurs instead of six would be uniquer, because it differs from all other snowflakes in more regards than "regular" unique snowflakes.

Re: It's all about the context

[drwex]

Oh, that's an interesting way to look at it. I'll claim that your inference is probably not what is meant by people who use that phrase because I think you're way smarter than the average, but it's still an interesting idea. Thanks!