4 ms·
But what if I want to say "very terrified"? As a side note, I was always amused by the number of generic superlatives available in many languages. In English,
by jeremysmyth 13y ago
But what if I want to say "very terrified"?
As a side note, I was always amused by the number of generic superlatives available in many languages. In English, we've already got "very", and "damn" as the site mentions, along with "really", "extremely", "amazingly" and so on. In British English, you can say "bloody" or "damnedly" or "shockingly" or "terribly" or any of a vast number of other superlatives, not to ignore the crass "fucking".
My favourite has to be the French "vachement", which could be translated as "cowly".
- ozh 13y agosuch translation! cowly awesome!
- cgriswald 13y agoIndeed. I enjoyed it ever so much.
- tptacek 13y agoTerrified isn't a gradable adjective (it appears to be a textbook example, in fact).
- glomph 13y agoSome of the best writing of course breaks rules on gradable adjectives though.
- Reebz 13y agoYou're then in a grey area of synonyms, it's not always hierarchical. If you're in a race for superlatives, then it's time to get creative. You could try: "paralyzed with terror".
- nmc 13y agoKeep in mind that, however "vachement" may sound, it is (very) familiar — almost slang. It comes from "vache", which is the French noun for "cow", but can also be used familiarly as an adjective that roughly translates to "nasty". If you enjoyed "vachement", you will be happy to know that the French noun "bœuf" (the second letter is made of an O and an E), which became "beef" in English, can also be used familiarly as an adjective meaning something along "intense".
- gruseom 13y agoHow interesting that the French use food for superlatives. Do we have anything like that in English? It feels weird to me, so I'm guessing no.
- bane 13y agoNot all that common, but sometimes. "He's quite the meat head." "He's an old salt." "Her personality was rather spicy." "He's a chicken." "Don't be a fruit." "Talking to her is like talking to a vegetable." "She's such a potato." "He's pretty corny around executives." "That guy is a rotten egg." "Her mind is like a pretzel." "She was such a cute pumpkin." "He's such a pig." "He's nuts." "What a cow."
- gruseom 13y agoThose aren't superlatives. We'd need to find something like "wicked" or "sick", but from food. The ones I can think of all come from religion or sex.
- bane 13y agoGood point. I can't think of any example off hand.
- Flenser 13y ago"any more would be gravy" (although that's from old French, like a lot of English food words)