Did you hear it? President Obama has the “proverbial reset
button”. True! I heard it on NPR. You have to wonder where he got it and where he keeps it.
When I checked the Proverbs, I’ll be darned; I couldn’t find a single “reset button” listed.
Be careful when choosing modifiers, such as proverbial and literal and absolute and first and, especially, unique. These are sometimes called “ultimates”. Make sure the ultimate is precisely what you mean.
I would expect poverbial to mean “from Proverbs” or at least “in wide usage” — and old.
Literal infers reality over metaphor. You may think you are “literally swimming in debt”, but you are metaphorically paddling among your IOUs. You literally swim in water!
Absolute means there is nothing more to be added or done. “Absolute control of the situation” means that no other has any control at all.
First is another ultimate. You may be the first to enter the building, or (more likely) among the first to enter the building. Remember, there is only one first (just ask an Olympic competitor).
Unique is the ultimate most abused in today’s language. Like first, unique means “the only one”. Which means something cannot be “sorta unique” or “somewhat unique” or even “very unique”.
Bottom line (literally); ultimates need no modifiers. That is absolutely what makes them unique — even in proverbial usage.
When I checked the Proverbs, I’ll be darned; I couldn’t find a single “reset button” listed.
Be careful when choosing modifiers, such as proverbial and literal and absolute and first and, especially, unique. These are sometimes called “ultimates”. Make sure the ultimate is precisely what you mean.
I would expect poverbial to mean “from Proverbs” or at least “in wide usage” — and old.
Literal infers reality over metaphor. You may think you are “literally swimming in debt”, but you are metaphorically paddling among your IOUs. You literally swim in water!
Absolute means there is nothing more to be added or done. “Absolute control of the situation” means that no other has any control at all.
First is another ultimate. You may be the first to enter the building, or (more likely) among the first to enter the building. Remember, there is only one first (just ask an Olympic competitor).
Unique is the ultimate most abused in today’s language. Like first, unique means “the only one”. Which means something cannot be “sorta unique” or “somewhat unique” or even “very unique”.
Bottom line (literally); ultimates need no modifiers. That is absolutely what makes them unique — even in proverbial usage.
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