If unique is one of a kind, how can you be very unique?

In response to last week’s question, “If unique is one of a kind, how can you be very unique?”, my birthday bud Jon and sailing videographer Ivan responded, “The same way you can be a little pregnant.” Ivan added, “I thought unique was binary? Like being pregnant. If I flip a coin, can it be very heads?”

My friend Tracey quipped, “Have you ever met any of my relatives?”

My sailing and writing buddy Rich agreed with Blair for a different reason. “While grammatically incorrect there are times where only a description of very unique will do. Dancing on a table at the Christmas party may make you unique, doing it naked makes you very unique .”

My friend Marlene, who well knows her English, suggested, “you do not have to be totally unique--just unique in special ways.” My musically inclined friend Blair, waxed poetically, “’Very’ gives a little extra distinction or oomph to the "unique" label. For example...every snowflake is unique, BUT some snowflakes are big, plump, juicy mini-snowballs or large, wispy, feathery works of art - so I'd call them VERY unique.”

My friend Richard concluded, “Be none of a kind?” to which my dad’s beach buddy Bob added, “You must be a ZERO, a nothing, un nada, a........, but there are so many of them they just cannot be Unique!”

Please share your thoughts about "things that make you go 'Hmmm' ":

Do we need a little more chlorine added to the gene pool ?

Live well...laugh often..be happy and have a good week…

Hal

Ivan’s Rant: Don't get me started. This is one of my pet peeves of handling the English language. “Unique” used to be a powerful word.

If English is a living language, and therefore I am supposed to accept that things change, I suggest that as a living being, the language just got sick. To put it in a way even the IM's of the world (ignorant masses) can understand, the language took a major hit point to its manna, or health. It needs a little nurturing to get it back to life!

If the literary giants were to change something to make the language grow, I am all for it. If the dumb masses change it so they can use a big word or sound intelligent then I am not for it. Seems most words are changing out of ignorance. What a shame. Did you know that infer now means imply? Look it up, third definition of infer is to imply. Dammit all if the Dumbmasses haven't taken a perfectly good word and made it it's opposite!