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"I'm in terrible pain."

• cyphar 10y ago
  "This is an excellent example of excruciating pain". The "terrible" in "terrible example of X" means that it's a bad example of X, not that it's a good example of how X is bad.
  • Dylan16807 10y ago
    When we're talking about something a person did (promoting junk science, in this case), it's easy to use the meaning of setting a bad example. It's usually clear from context whether the example is 'terrible to follow' or 'terrible at explicating'. You might prefer a nonambiguous wording, but the current wording is valid, and not a grammatical error. For the pain example, think of "a terrible example of how to excruciatingly injure yourself" as a phrase that's easier to use in either context.
    • spraak 10y ago
      Thanks for explaining. I hadn't meant to point it out in a sense of grammatical correctness but it makes sense that way.