Wednesday, April 24, 2013

U is for Unique

Unique means one of a kind. As my eighth-grade teacher taught, it's one of those words that doesn't lend itself to comparison. Often we'll hear that such-and-such is the "most unique" product on the market. No, it may be the most unusual, but one thing can't be more one of a kind than another. Fingerprints, DNA samples, retinal scans, and snowflakes are unique, or so we're told. People are unique in their experiences, but in their personalities I am not so sure.

On the Internet you can find lists of "unique" baby names, but it's a good bet that if the names are on a list, they're not unique. One of the names I saw was Harper, and Harper Lee came right to mind. And Quentin immediately conjured up Tarantino.

10 comments:

Mark Means said...

I'm not sure how much, these days, is truly unique.

Most things, especially in Entertainment, seem to be rehashes of older things.

Yolanda Renée said...

I think your blog is unique, and the number of them!

Thanks for visiting, nice to meet you via the A to Z

Unknown said...

Being the recipient of a 'unique' baby name, I can say that it's not all it's cracked up to be!

Maryannwrites said...

It is interesting to note that not every one adheres to the true meaning of "unique" as in one of a kind. (smile)

Marian Allen said...

This is one of my mother's bete noirs, too -- or is it betes noir? Anyway, she doesn't like it.

Question: Is the phrase, "It is a MOST unique table" the same as "It is the most unique table you'll ever find"?

Marian Allen
Fantasies, mysteries, comedies, recipes

Dani said...

I think it's safe to say that I'm pretty unique. LOL.

Bob Sanchez said...

Marian, my French classes are a half century in the past, but I think it's "betes noirs," if we really want to frenchify it.

Unknown said...

I love this word, there's nothing to compare it to and you have a very small list of synonyms for it.

Morgan Mandel said...

Quentin and Harper both sound like great hero names in books!

Morgan Mandel
http://www.morganmandel.com

Bob Sanchez said...

Quentin Harper. There's a character name, Morgan.