5 ms·

It’s totally fine to put gradations on “unique”. The “most unique” item in a set will have multiple aspects that are rare or one-of-kind. It may be the only gre

It’s totally fine to put gradations on “unique”. The “most unique” item in a set will have multiple aspects that are rare or one-of-kind. It may be the only green one, and also the only textured one and the only top-heavy one. The more unique something is, the more it stands apart from other objects in its class.

yodon 4y ago
Unique means there's only one thing like it. You're advocating there's "more only one thing like this" of something than something else. The word that takes qualifiers is "unusual." People commonly say "unique" when they mean unusual. One thing can definitely be more unusual than another thing.
- mejutoco 4y ago
  Unique: being the only existing one of its type or, more generally, unusual, or special in some way https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/unique https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/unique I think it depends on the context, but it does not seem an incorrect usage.
- function_seven 4y ago
  I know, but still insist that the things that separate this unique item are themselves small or large. If an item separates itself from the others on mutliple dimensions, then it is more unique than an item that differs only in one dimension. Both of them are the only things like themselves. I have a collection of vases. Almost all of them are roughly the same size (15cm), shape (round; tapered), and color (clear or white). But there are two that are different: "A" is green instead of white, with a square base. B is made from petrified buffalo dung, stands 1 meter tall, must be carefully balanced because it's so heavy on top (and skinny at the base), and is covered in velvet. A is unique. B is definitely more unique.
  - yodon 4y ago
    All snowflakes are unique. Would a red snowflake be more unique? You might personally find the color axis more interesting, but it's just one of a huge number of axes along which the snowflakes are different. The red one is more interesting to you but it isn't actually "more unique". The same is true for your vases.
- Kranar 4y ago
  Most of the dictionaries I just Googled disagree with your assessment. It looks like unique has multiple definitions and while unique can definitely refer to something "being without a like or equal", other definitions include "unusual or special in some way" as well as something "rare and distinguished". Like most arguments about words, it mostly comes down to context.
  - yodon 4y ago
    There are also dictionaries that say the definitions of infinite include "great or very great." I don't think most people at HN would accept those sloppy definitions of infinite any more than we should accept those sloppy definitions of unique. Unique has a clear meaning. People frequently use the word unique in a sloppy manner to mean something different than unique, just as people frequently use the word infinite in a sloppy manner.
    - Kranar 4y ago
      Yes people, including those on HN, use the word infinite to mean very very large as opposed to the mathematical definition of infinite as a set that contains a proper subset with equal cardinality. Doing a Google search for uses of infinite on HN will reveal just as much, for example people complaining about websites with "infinite scrolling", or that the Fed has printed an infinite amount of money recently, or that software can be copied infinitely many times, or someone claiming that their friend has an infinite amount of memory. In all these cases, they are using the word infinite to simply mean very very large.
- moate 4y ago
  By their nature, all things are unique, depending on their framing. We make concessions because we don't all have infinite time. Which is to say, you can't have 2 apples, you can only have one very specific, singularly unique apple and another very specific, singularly unique apple. If you get pedantic enough, nobody could ever have anything because the word invented to describe the first thing wouldn't technically describe the second thing perfectly (as they're not the same) so as to render speech useless. Either accept that "unique" is a word for the poets and not the mathematicians, or accept that it's entirely useless as a descriptor.

yodon 4y ago

Unique means there's only one thing like it. You're advocating there's "more only one thing like this" of something than something else. The word that takes qualifiers is "unusual." People commonly say "unique" when they mean unusual. One thing can definitely be more unusual than another thing.

mejutoco 4y ago
Unique: being the only existing one of its type or, more generally, unusual, or special in some way https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/unique https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/unique I think it depends on the context, but it does not seem an incorrect usage.
function_seven 4y ago
I know, but still insist that the things that separate this unique item are themselves small or large. If an item separates itself from the others on mutliple dimensions, then it is more unique than an item that differs only in one dimension. Both of them are the only things like themselves. I have a collection of vases. Almost all of them are roughly the same size (15cm), shape (round; tapered), and color (clear or white). But there are two that are different: "A" is green instead of white, with a square base. B is made from petrified buffalo dung, stands 1 meter tall, must be carefully balanced because it's so heavy on top (and skinny at the base), and is covered in velvet. A is unique. B is definitely more unique.
- yodon 4y ago
  All snowflakes are unique. Would a red snowflake be more unique? You might personally find the color axis more interesting, but it's just one of a huge number of axes along which the snowflakes are different. The red one is more interesting to you but it isn't actually "more unique". The same is true for your vases.
Kranar 4y ago
Most of the dictionaries I just Googled disagree with your assessment. It looks like unique has multiple definitions and while unique can definitely refer to something "being without a like or equal", other definitions include "unusual or special in some way" as well as something "rare and distinguished". Like most arguments about words, it mostly comes down to context.
- yodon 4y ago
  There are also dictionaries that say the definitions of infinite include "great or very great." I don't think most people at HN would accept those sloppy definitions of infinite any more than we should accept those sloppy definitions of unique. Unique has a clear meaning. People frequently use the word unique in a sloppy manner to mean something different than unique, just as people frequently use the word infinite in a sloppy manner.
  - Kranar 4y ago
    Yes people, including those on HN, use the word infinite to mean very very large as opposed to the mathematical definition of infinite as a set that contains a proper subset with equal cardinality. Doing a Google search for uses of infinite on HN will reveal just as much, for example people complaining about websites with "infinite scrolling", or that the Fed has printed an infinite amount of money recently, or that software can be copied infinitely many times, or someone claiming that their friend has an infinite amount of memory. In all these cases, they are using the word infinite to simply mean very very large.
moate 4y ago
By their nature, all things are unique, depending on their framing. We make concessions because we don't all have infinite time. Which is to say, you can't have 2 apples, you can only have one very specific, singularly unique apple and another very specific, singularly unique apple. If you get pedantic enough, nobody could ever have anything because the word invented to describe the first thing wouldn't technically describe the second thing perfectly (as they're not the same) so as to render speech useless. Either accept that "unique" is a word for the poets and not the mathematicians, or accept that it's entirely useless as a descriptor.