"Better" than WHAT???

This is a small thing, I suppose, but it really irks me.

I was discussing a restaurant that I really like and someone said, “…but X restaurant is better”.

I asked if they’d ever eaten at the spot I was recommending and their answer was “no”.

WTF???!!!

My sister did this years ago. I was raving about a movie I’d seen about a divorcing couple. My sister interrupted, “Kramer Vs. Kramer” was better."

She hadn’t seen the film I was discussing.

ARRRRRGH!

To be able to make a judgment in comparing two things, I strongly feel that one MUST TRY BOTH. To name something “the best” one must try “all”.

  • I hate it when someone says, “I love you more.” Shuddup!

Thank you - ranting helps me.

If it matters, I agree with you.

Remember when we were taught that some words like “perfect” had no comparative or superlative forms? You have to say “more nearly perfect” or “most nearly perfect” instead of “perfecter” or “more perfect” and so on.

The terms “better” and “best” should be used with care and with agreed on units of measure. Abstract “better” doesn’t make sense.

It reminds me of a buddy who had the idea that since you couldn’t actually compare stuff well with “better” you should try to come up with things that ranked roughly the same on differing scales. For example, he would say, “My dislike for this movie is matched only by my love of a good pizza.”

That might work?

Thanks Zeldar.

Your agreement with my case made me feel better. (than I did when I wrote the OP - wink)

I think some of the blame goes to advertising. As I learned in the wonderful, now out-of-print book I Can Sell You Anything, they have to be careful using “Better”, because if they actually say that they’re better than Brand Q, they have to be able to justify it (whereas they can always call themselves “Best”, in part because the criteria are ill-defined. The Law and advertising form a weird relationship), so they end up comparing themselves to an abstract “other”, or themselves five years ago, or, pretty often, to nothing at all.
“Buy Grelp! It’s better!”

People hear this repeated constantly, and get the idea that it’s an acceptable way to convey meaning, rather than a way to weasel out of legal attacks.

I think the notion of “truth in advertising” has been stretched to its logical extreme by products such as “Head On” when they don’t even make claims about what it is! “Apply directly to the forehead” is all you get. What does it do? Remove zits? Give you a headache? Give you wisdom? Remove all doubts about the Federal Government? Cure you from TV ads?

Didja hear the one about “Head On II.” The make no direct claims, but imply it’s a topical, Viagra-like substance applied directly to the . . . well, you know.

Well, I’ve not tried a barbed-wire dildo up the arse, but I think eating cheese on toast is better - at least I used to be sure about that, now I’m not so certain.

Congratulations. You have just given me a mental image that will stick with me for the rest of the day.

Cheese on toast is just one of those things you can’t easily forget about.

Better get a bucket…