It’s everywhere. It’s in commercials, on the radio, in print, how did this happen? I can’t argue as knowledgeably as some here . . . but the correct phrase I believe should be “exactly the same”.
For example: “Her dress was exactly the same as mine”. **Not ** “She wore the exact same dress as me”.
Can anyone help me stamp out this truly annoying new trend?
Thanking you in advance.
Heckity
Funny, I was going to start a thread about the exact same thing.
http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/11/exact-same-time.html
The above may help shed light on this for you. Too bad it doesn’t show when this phrase became popular. But I’m sure it’s been around quite a while, which means it’s unlikely you’ll be able to stop it. IME, English grammar tends to embrace the newer nonstandard usages, rather than reverting to the older ones.
Your confusion results from not hearing it correctly.
The word in question is “izzack” (sometimes “eggzack”).
She wore the izzack same dress as me! Or even I! Did.
Oh yeah: No, you will not stop the polloi from neologisming us to death. They basically invented the language and seem to want to steer it, as well.
I press on.
“Exactly the same” just doesn’t have the same emphatic cadence as “The Exact Same”. It’s here to stay.
Wait…
What’s wrong with “the exact same”?
It’s grammatically lazy but I don’t really get worked up over it. As the aforementioned link points out, “exact same” or “exactly the same” are redundant – but that’s not unusual. In this case “exact” or “exactly” are being used as intensifiers because a lot of people have a tendency to use “same” as mild hyperbole. Additionally, most of us often make technically false equivalences, such as when comparing a branded item with its generic counterpart. We’ll often say “Brand G’s peanut butter is the same as Brand Y’s” when they’re not identical in every way, but only similar to a degree where there’s no difference worth mentioning.
I’m sure I’ve used “exact same” in informal conversation before, too, both for its brevity, and as an intensifier to head off the inevitable “exactly the same?” if I merely used the adjective alone.