MEMO

[fox]

to:  ALL ENGLISH SPEAKERS EVERYWHERE
from:  ME
re:  RAAAR

ATTENTION EVERYONE:

UNIQUE ≠ UNUSUAL.  THE WORD MEANS 'ONE OF A KIND' AND THAT IS ALL IT MEANS.

i'm sorry to raise my voice, but honestly.  this has gone on long enough.

Comments

[king-chiron.livejournal.com]

The only problem is that a number of dictionaries list "unusual" as one of the definitions of unique.

Compact OED (http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/unique?view=uk)

unique
• adjective 1 being the only one of its kind; unlike anything else. 2 (unique to) belonging or connected to (one particular person, group, or place). 3 remarkable or unusual.

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

That is so wrong!

For another wrong use of unique - a thing is not more unique or less unique than another thing. It's either unique or it's not.

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

yes, exactly. 'very unique'? NONONONONONO.

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

too descriptive! they are merely tossing a bone to people who use the word that way, which is wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong. rar.

[king-chiron.livejournal.com]

Of the dictionaries I checked online, 75% had unusual as a definition for unique. What's the OED (non-compact version) say?

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

i'm away from the oxford network at the moment, so i won't have that answer until the 10th of january. but look at the word itself: UNIque. uni=one. it's an absolute. it's like 'pregnant' or 'dead'. a woman is either pregnant or she isn't (the colloquial question 'how pregnant is she' meaning 'how long has she been pregnant', and the expression 'very pregnant' meaning 'close to term'); a person or animal is either dead or it isn't (it can be nearly dead, but it can't be more dead than dead); and a thing is either unique or it isn't.

the fact that scads of people don't know this doesn't make them right. look at 'imply' and 'infer'.

[king-chiron.livejournal.com]

What? Obviously I haven't been debating the fact that unique is binary, but rather your claim that unusual isn't a proper definition for unique.

Maybe you're right and the leading dictionaries I checked are all wrong, but I doubt it.

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

i'm saying that because 'unique' is binary, 'unusual' is an imprecise and therefore incorrect definition of it. as jgesteve points out downthread, actually anything unique is naturally unusual. it's just that something that's one of a kind isn't just unusual; it's unique. conversely, using 'unique' to describe something that isn't one of a kind is wrong. it's like saying someone is a graduate of a university just because he used to be a student there and now he isn't. all graduates were once students, that is, but not everyone who was once a student is a graduate.

and dictionaries say a lot of things. they give 'flout' as one acceptable definition of 'flaunt'. doesn't make it right. :-)

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

i just remembered that we were arguing talking about this, and now that i'm back here, i chose to avoid my work by looking it up. :-) OED says:

unique, a. and n.

A. adj.

    1. Of which there is only one; one and no other; single, sole, solitary.
    2. a. That is or forms the only one of its kind; having no like or equal; standing alone in comparison with others, freq. by reason of superior excellence; unequalled, unparalleled, unrivalled.
        b. Of persons.
        c. absol. with the: (see quots.).
  +3. Formed or consisting of one or a single thing. Obs.^—1

B. n.

    1. a. A thing of which there is only one example, copy, or specimen; esp., in early use, a coin or medal of this class.
      +b. Something of which only one is possessed by a person or persons. Obs. rare.
    2. a. A thing, fact, or circumstance which by reason of exceptional or special qualities stands alone and is without equal or parallel in its kind.
        b. A person of this class.

[jgesteve.livejournal.com]

Actually by logical extrapolation an item that is unique is perforce unusual (i.e. not usual), however an item that is unusual is not necessarily unique... that whole a square is a rectangle, but a rectangle is not a square thing.

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

[reads this]

true.

but it is still not okay to use 'unique' to mean merely 'unusual'. what prompted the rant was a commercial for a place not far from here advertising 'unique items that you've never seen anywhere else'. well, like, if they're unique, i couldn't have seen them anywhere else, could i? and don't even get me started on wrongnesses like 'incredibly unique'. RAR.

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

but the more i think about it, the more i'm okay with the expression unique ≠ unusual. unique ∈ unusual, of course, but they're not equal. unique ⊂ unusual, but ¬(unique ⊆ unusual).

just to get thoroughly geeky and formal-semantic about it. :-)

[king-chiron.livejournal.com]

So what's something that's unique but not unusual, that is, unique and usual?

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

as 'unique' means 'singular', there can be nothing that is both unique and common.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

You know I love you, right?

In a strictly heterosexual way, of course.

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

[smoocha]! :-)

[fafou.livejournal.com]

got thanks for the update!