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Grammar question for the native speakers: "The owner, however, disagreed and sued him, setting up one of the stranger art authentication cases in recent histor

Grammar question for the native speakers: "The owner, however, disagreed and sued him, setting up one of the stranger art authentication cases in recent history." Why is stranger used here, and not strangest? Would you say it the same way? Thanks, and sorry for the digression.

alanh 10y ago
So many replies here! In my opinion none of them make a case that either -er or -est is more grammatical than the other. Even if this case is not the singular strangest, that does not mean it cannot be a member of ("one of") the singularly strangest group of all the cases. That is, the phrase "one of the strangest cases" would ask the reader to imagine that there is a group of cases, each stranger than any case outside of the group, which contains the case in question. (There would presumably be a group of moderately strange cases and a group of uninteresting cases.) It is a phrase so lacking in precision — appropriate for a subjective statement — that it matters not at all if "stranger" is used in places of "strangest," as the NYT opted to do, except that "stranger" only implies the existence of _one_ group of cases that is less interesting than the one containing the Doig case.
ww520 10y ago
"one of the abnormal/extraordinary/unusual cases"
Zikes 10y ago
"stranger" implies "more strange than the mean" while "strangest" would be further out on the extreme.
protomyth 10y ago
it is one of a group so it gets -er because it is not the singular strangest
rcthompson 10y ago
If you like, you can mentally replace "stranger" with "stranger than average".
danielvf 10y ago
[Edit: appears this isn't so] There can be only one "strangest" case, while there are many "stranger" cases. Because of this, saying "one of the strangest cases" is grammaticly nonsensical, even though it's in common enough usage.
- curried_haskell 10y ago
  If it's in common usage, then it is in fact grammatically sensical. The strangest cases can refer to those cases that, as a group, are all stranger than cases outside the group.
- cperciva 10y ago
  "One of the strangest cases" is perfectly grammatical. There is only one "strangest case", but the "strangest cases" can refer to any set such that every case it contains is stranger than every case it does not contain.
- eridius 10y ago
  It's not grammatical nonsense. There can be a number of "strangest cases", either because they're all equally strange, or because you're referring to, say, "the top 10 strangest cases" and simply omitted the number. In common usage, saying "this is one of the strangest cases" generally means that if you were to rank all cases by strangeness, and then pick some arbitrary small number of cases that rank at the top, this case would be a member of that group, and it implies that the speaker has not in fact ranked cases like this but merely believes that this is likely to be true, hence the imprecise language.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
alistairSH 10y ago
I believe... "Strangest" is a superlative and would imply this case is equally as strange as any other case in the group being labelled "strangest cases". All cases in this group are equally strange and also stranger than any other cases not in the group. "Stranger" is a comparative and implies this case is in a group of more-strange-than-typical cases, but may or may not be exactly as strange as any in that grouping. There is the possibility that some cases are stranger than this one. In this case "stranger" is probably more correct, as labelling an art case "strangest" is really a personal judgement. This story is unusual, but is it provably any more unusual than other unusual art cases?
ezequiel-garzon 10y ago
Thanks for all the replies! (Too late to edit my question.)

alanh 10y ago

So many replies here! In my opinion none of them make a case that either -er or -est is more grammatical than the other. Even if this case is not the singular strangest, that does not mean it cannot be a member of ("one of") the singularly strangest group of all the cases. That is, the phrase "one of the strangest cases" would ask the reader to imagine that there is a group of cases, each stranger than any case outside of the group, which contains the case in question. (There would presumably be a group of moderately strange cases and a group of uninteresting cases.) It is a phrase so lacking in precision — appropriate for a subjective statement — that it matters not at all if "stranger" is used in places of "strangest," as the NYT opted to do, except that "stranger" only implies the existence of _one_ group of cases that is less interesting than the one containing the Doig case.

ww520 10y ago

"one of the abnormal/extraordinary/unusual cases"

Zikes 10y ago

"stranger" implies "more strange than the mean" while "strangest" would be further out on the extreme.

protomyth 10y ago

it is one of a group so it gets -er because it is not the singular strangest

rcthompson 10y ago

If you like, you can mentally replace "stranger" with "stranger than average".

danielvf 10y ago

[Edit: appears this isn't so] There can be only one "strangest" case, while there are many "stranger" cases. Because of this, saying "one of the strangest cases" is grammaticly nonsensical, even though it's in common enough usage.

curried_haskell 10y ago
If it's in common usage, then it is in fact grammatically sensical. The strangest cases can refer to those cases that, as a group, are all stranger than cases outside the group.
cperciva 10y ago
"One of the strangest cases" is perfectly grammatical. There is only one "strangest case", but the "strangest cases" can refer to any set such that every case it contains is stranger than every case it does not contain.
eridius 10y ago
It's not grammatical nonsense. There can be a number of "strangest cases", either because they're all equally strange, or because you're referring to, say, "the top 10 strangest cases" and simply omitted the number. In common usage, saying "this is one of the strangest cases" generally means that if you were to rank all cases by strangeness, and then pick some arbitrary small number of cases that rank at the top, this case would be a member of that group, and it implies that the speaker has not in fact ranked cases like this but merely believes that this is likely to be true, hence the imprecise language.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

alistairSH 10y ago

I believe... "Strangest" is a superlative and would imply this case is equally as strange as any other case in the group being labelled "strangest cases". All cases in this group are equally strange and also stranger than any other cases not in the group. "Stranger" is a comparative and implies this case is in a group of more-strange-than-typical cases, but may or may not be exactly as strange as any in that grouping. There is the possibility that some cases are stranger than this one. In this case "stranger" is probably more correct, as labelling an art case "strangest" is really a personal judgement. This story is unusual, but is it provably any more unusual than other unusual art cases?

ezequiel-garzon 10y ago

Thanks for all the replies! (Too late to edit my question.)