Conference thebay::joyoflex

    I think any discussion of the phrase "nearly unique" should be with the
    other discussion of such oxymorons as military intelligence and civil
    service.
    
    Nick

    
    I don't think "nearly unique" is all that bad, and I reason as follows.
    Something is either unique or it isn't, but there are situations where
    the state of uniqueness is approached. E.g., someday there may well be
    a single living elephant or rhino. At that point the animal will be
    unique, but before that it is nearly unique.
    
    Similarly, a thing is either ubiquitous or it isn't, but I wouldn't
    object to the phrase "nearly ubiquitous." 
    
    So nearly unique simply means "almost one of a kind" and is not nearly
    as annoying a phrase as "very unique" or "slightly unique," etc.
    
    JP
    

    	Is this like "slightly pregnant", "nearly pregnant", "very
    pregnant"?

    I would use "uncommon" or "extremely rare" or similar phraseology in
    lieu of "nearly unique."
    
    -dick

>>	Ref .0    
>>    	Is it correct to describe something as being "nearly unique"?

		It is almost correct.
    

    
    Slightly pregnant seems wrong. Very pregnant seems right (ask a woman
    in her eighth month if she's very pregnant, and she'll probably say
    yes, especially if the eighth month is August). Nearly pregnant is a
    possibility:
    
    <warning: what may be interpreted as sexist humor follows formfeed>
    
    
    A handsome member of the Ski Patrol treats a woman's broken ankle and
    loads her onto the stretcher/sled. He says, "You know, you may be the
    fourth pregnant woman I've taken down off this mountain today." Woman
    says, "I'm not pregnant!" Ski Patroller says, "You're not down off the
    mountain yet, either."

    Sometimes an idea, invention, etc., is described as "unique," not meaning
    that there's only one idea or invention, etc., but just indicating extreme
    creativity or unusualness.  In other words, I think "unique" doesn't have
    a unique meaning, and one of its meanings can properly be modified by
    "nearly," "very," etc.
    
    Well, although "unique" doesn't have a unique meaning, one of its meanings
    is unique, so it has both one unique meaning and one less unique meaning.
    
    [I don't think the joke in .6 was sexist.  "Nearly sexist" maybe....
    If anyone wishes to dispute this opinion, please stick to the actual
    opinion that I expressed, rather than presuming opinions on a nearly but
    not quite identical topic, as has sometimes happened in this notesfile.]
    
    -- Norman Diamond

	Unique has the literal meaning "one of a kind" only in Latin.
	Here are the definitions of "unique" in Webster's 9th 
	Collegiate:

	o  sole
	o  unequaled
	o  distinctively characteristic
	o  unusual

	And here's what they say about it:

		Many commentators have objected to the comparison
		or modification of "unique"; the statement that a
		thing is either unique or it is not has often been 
		repeated by them.  Objections are based chiefly on
		the assumption that "unique" has but a single
		absolute sense, an assumption contradited by 
		information readily available in any dictionary
		...  Around the middle of the 19th century, it
		ceased to be considered foreign and came into
		considerable popular use.  With popular use came a
		broadening of application beyond the original two
		meanings.  In modern use both comparison and
		modification are widespread and standard but are
		confined to [the second two meanings].  When [the
		first two senses are] intended, "unique is used
		without qualifying modifiers.

	I'll spare you the definition of "one of a kind."

		-- Cliff

    `One of a kind' means `absolutely unique', of course.
    
    b
    

    	No. It means "as unique as possible, given the current world
    economy".