Yankee  +  806522 Sat, 04 Jul 09 11:59 PM I'm happy for you, Anon. Yankee Joined on Sat, Apr 15 2006 Connecticut, USA Veteran Member 6,406 Amy "You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." - Mark Twain

	Clive  +  806554 Sun, 05 Jul 09 12:34 AM Hi, Would you like to comment on some of the examples given earlier in the thread, and on the fact that this phrase forms part of the US Constitution?   Best wishes, Clive Clive Joined on Thu, Oct 28 2004 Canada Veteran Member 29,298 El tango argentino es un pensamiento triste que se puede bailar (The tango argentino is a sad thought which can be danced) Enrique Santos Discépolo

	Forbes  +  807239 Sun, 05 Jul 09 12:22 PM I quote from Good and Bad English by Wilfred Whitten and Frank Whitaker (published 1938) and bought in a second-hand bookshop many years ago for 4p: LOGIC NOTWITHSTANDING ARE THERE DEGREES OF PERFECTION? Many people worry about the little illogicalities that abound in accepted English. One of their favourite contentions is that the absolute can have no degrees, and therefore such expressions as "truer," "more correct," "very sincerely," "utmost limit," "more correct," "very best" are wrong. One of these sticklers wrote to me: "There are no grades of truth." Not, perhaps, in the sight of heaven, but in the world as it is we are compelled to admit degrees of truth. [...] Language is not mathematics; neither can it be drilled in the goose-step. It is the human situation, the collision of circumstances, or of wills, that compels us to intensivate terms which in strict logic are already final. [...] Many fine shades of meaning would be lost if this licence to grade the absolute were not permitted us. [...] Not for a moment do I contend that we are entitled to abuse language for the sake of mere and frequent emphasis. But one may stretch a point sometimes.[...] Forbes Joined on Thu, Jun 16 2005 Regular Member 895 Countries, United Kingdom, Great Britain, Languages, Expressions

	MrPedantic  +  807355 Sun, 05 Jul 09 02:05 PM I wonder myself whether "perfect" itself has any meaning, except as an agreeable fiction.   MrP MrPedantic Joined on Tue, Oct 12 2004 Veteran Member 13,616 ...opella forensis / adducit febris...

	Yoong Liat  +  809183 Mon, 06 Jul 09 07:16 PM Anonymous “Is there such a thing as a perfect circle? ” No. A circle is a circle. It cannot be more or less perfect. Yoong Liat Joined on Mon, Sep 4 2006 Veteran Member 6,746