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I have found that the adjective "great" keeps popping up in thread titles and OPs in a very hyperbolic and hackneyed way. Someone wants to find a neighborhood dating from the 1950s-1970's with "great schools"; another wants a neighborhood with "great family values"; yet someone else is looking for a "great" fishing spot. And, oh yes, someone opined that if too many people learned that Raleigh NC is highly rated, then they will all flood there and the city will no longer be "great". What's up with this language inflation? What's wrong with good schools and good fishing spots? And howzabout just "family values" (code for social conservatives) -- must they also be "great family values"? Did these people ever learn that the adjective is the enemy of the noun?
I'm trying to understand the origin and motivation associated with this inflated linguistic usage. The offenders I've noted seem to be Southerners broadly defined (including Texans). Is this a regional use? In any event, please cut it out -- it's giving me a great headache!
Location: Midessa, Texas Home Yangzhou, Jiangsu temporarily
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Quote:
Originally Posted by doctorjef
I have found that the adjective "great" keeps popping up in thread titles and OPs in a very hyperbolic and hackneyed way. Someone wants to find a neighborhood dating from the 1950s-1970's with "great schools"; another wants a neighborhood with "great family values"; yet someone else is looking for a "great" fishing spot. And, oh yes, someone opined that if too many people learned that Raleigh NC is highly rated, then they will all flood there and the city will no longer be "great". What's up with this language inflation? What's wrong with good schools and good fishing spots? And howzabout just "family values" (code for social conservatives) -- must they also be "great family values"? Did these people ever learn that the adjective is the enemy of the noun?
I'm trying to understand the origin and motivation associated with this inflated linguistic usage. The offenders I've noted seem to be Southerners broadly defined (including Texans). Is this a regional use? In any event, please cut it out -- it's giving me a great headache!
I'm in Texas, but I'm not aware of this adjective "inflation" as a local speech pattern. People I've known in certain professions like sales and PR tend to be prone to using this kind of hyperbole, but AFAIK it's more of a personality issue than a regional issue.
I'm in Texas, but I'm not aware of this adjective "inflation" as a local speech pattern. People I've known in certain professions like sales and PR tend to be prone to using this kind of hyperbole, but AFAIK it's more of a personality issue than a regional issue.
Actually, I suspect that you are correct and that the tendency to over-use "great" when traditionally "good" would do is correlated with a particularly pollyannaish personality style. Further, I think this is likely to reflect an expectation that one should actually be entitled to "great" quality in such human, political institutions as public schools or natural phenomena like fishing holes. It would be funny if it weren't so possibly tragic, in terms of a citizenry and electorate who can't see the forest of human suffering for the trees of their Great Aspirations and "great family values".
Actually, I suspect that you are correct and that the tendency to over-use "great" when traditionally "good" would do is correlated with a particularly pollyannaish personality style. Further, I think this is likely to reflect an expectation that one should actually be entitled to "great" quality in such human, political institutions as public schools or natural phenomena like fishing holes. It would be funny if it weren't so possibly tragic, in terms of a citizenry and electorate who can't see the forest of human suffering for the trees of their Great Aspirations and "great family values".
Now, now doctorjef don't be picking on the Pollyanna!
There's nothing wrong with people aspiring to greatness and I think we all do on some level. I doubt folks wake up and think, "right what can I do to ensure my mediocrity today?" We all want something better, we probably all just have different ways of articulating it.
Wow, a simple question and all of a sudden it relates to being a Pollyanna, citizenry, electorate and family values??? Geesh!!!
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