One of the Grammar Points I'm More Worried About

Has anyone else noticed how rarely superlatives are used in written English these days?

Maybe I'm old, but I remember a time when writers weren't afraid to use phrases like "one of the most well-known," "one of the best," "some of the most respected," and so on.

Now in many articles and posts that I read online, I see a shrinking away from the superlative in favor of the comparative, even when it doesn't make much sense. I see sentences that start, "One of the more well-respected companies in the industry, ProductCorp earned acclaim for..." Or "Some of the better albums released this year..." Aren't the phrases "one of" and "some of" already enough of a hedge against making an overreaching absolute statement?

If I call "Third" by Portishead one of the better albums released in 2008, unless I have in mind a separate list of "best albums of 2008" apart from my list of "better albums," what am I really saying? Maybe I'm just trying to avoid criticism by making (what appears to be) a weaker statement.

It's a kind of knee-jerk, slightly nonsensical aversion to making solid statements. It's one of the more annoying aspects of reading online.

Tic

For everyone asking about the projects we're doing at CDIA, here's a video I wrote, directed, and edited.

Color correction and sound are still a little bit dodgy here and there, but otherwise it's as done as it can be.

Where You Read a Blog Post

I was riding the commuter rail tonight when I saw an ad for the Massachusetts School of Law. Their slogan?

Where You Learn to Become a Lawyer

Isn't that, uh, fairly well understood? Anyone even remotely considering becoming a lawyer would, you'd think, already be aware of the fact that a law school is where one would naturally go.

Of course, I don't want to be too snarky; that sort of unhyped honesty is refreshing. I've never seen an ad like "New England School of Dentistry: Where You Learn to Fix Teeth," but that might be more pleasant to read on the train than the typical obnoxiously overeager ad copy.

Maybe this advertising concept could spread to job listings: "Join BigCorp: Where Your Soul Slowly Slips Away." Or "Hedge Funds 'R' Us: Where You Make Tons of Cash When You're Not Trying to Explain to Your Family that You Didn't Personally Cause the Global Economic Meltdown."

Back to academia: I double-majored in comparative literature and philosophy in college. What would  the departmental slogans be? "Comparative Literature: Where You Learn to Compare Literature." Hmmm. What DID I do in the comp lit department? Hard to say.  "Philosophy: Where You..." I won't even finish that one--it's like shooting fish in a barrel.

The slogan for the whole university is "In Deo Speramus," or, "In God We Hope." Quite vague. Hard to find a focus or mission in a broad statement like that. In contrast, "Where You Learn to Become a Lawyer" has a nice ring to it. A pleasing, simple certainty.