What makes a thing? Great? It must be possessed of the power to surprised? If so, what feeling of surprised are we talking about here? Does it mean “fill in confusion”? Or is it “full of horror and alarm”? Or simply “filled with surprise”? Perhaps most importantly, maybe Great used to describe your dinner? It’s heavy questions like these that keep the dictionary going through the long, lonely winters of Massachusetts.
This one looks pretty nice, at least.
There is no question that people do in fact use Great to modify common and trivial topics, such as ‘dinner’, because if no one used the word in this way there would be no complaints about it. And there are a lot of complaints about Great. Many of these fallacies focus on the fact that your dinner is, in fact, not filled with the power to bewilder, alarm, or surprise; It’s just a delicious dinner.
To be fair Great, it’s hardly the only word in this semantic class that has become crude and cheap by such a mealtime usage. you can have one terrible meal without fear, a Great one doesn’t have it to do with fantasy, and one Great one even if it has nothing to do with the fable, even though this was the original meaning of all these words before semantic bleaching came upon them. To be fair, people who get tired of hearing about you Great meal, the word has changed quite a bit since it appeared. Our earliest evidence for Greatoccurred in the late 16th century, there is a tendency to use the word as a sign of surprise or awe.
Which color of the astonishing Rhetorique, or the Vibrant Poetry, etches more deeply, then some of his astonishing works; the beautiful sayings of another Petrarch, or the sweet allure of pure enchantment?— Gabriel Harvey, New message with remarkable content1593
This sure story, all too sure of illness, Not extinguished, but glorified more brightly, Incredible Prodigy, (stops my quill,) caused not astonishment, but a wish strong, Thanks to that, the strong will of the Knight was adopted from this heaven…. — Gervase Markham, Sir Richard Brinuile’s Most Venerable Tragedy1595
God for your cause prospers you, Be swift as lightning in execution, And let your blows be doubled, Fall like astonishing thunder upon the barrel Eternal Enemy your….— William Shakespeare, King Richard’s Tragedy1597
It should be noted that many people complain about Great don’t care about the fact that the word has changed its meaning so much because they just get tired of the word. This is a perfectly reasonable sentiment, and we all get tired of certain words. A hundred years ago, a lot of people complained about the misuse of this word Pretty.
Improperly used to represent every kind and degree of quality to be admired and appreciated; as one Pretty time,’ ‘one Pretty horse,’ ‘one Pretty rain,’ ‘Pretty man,’ ‘one Pretty lecture, ” a Pretty funeral.’- Funk and Wagnalls’ Mistakes Dictionary1917
You can use Great to describe breakfast, lunch, dinner, or any other meal you feel like eating. People have combined this word with dinner more than two hundred years ago.
After dinner, when the fruit was on the table, anyone could tell that Maria had never had such a wonderful dinner, for she had devoured apples, pears, and nuts, along with almonds. fillings, raisins, and oranges, perfect to wow Constantia in moderation and simplicity.— Elizabeth Sibthorpe Pinchard, Two cousins1794
Please note that we are saying that you Maybe use Great (if that’s really how you feel) to describe pretty much anything you want, but this is not at all like we say you should do like that.
Categories: Usage Notes
Source: vothisaucamau.edu.vn
