Use of "almost never" and "very unique"

Question

So I am debating with a friend, a self proclaimed grammar expert.

I used the phrase "more unique", which she stated was improper, because unique is finite. Unlike anything else, she said, so nothing could be more unique than anything else.

So today, she used the phrase "almost never". I asked her how something can be "almost never", when by her argument never is an absolute. Something can be never, sometimes, forever, etc....

She came back with a response I didn't fully understand, so I am looking for some help in settling this debate.

How can use of almost never be proper when use of more unique is improper? They both seem like absolutes to me.

Help

Philip · Accepted Answer

Unique is technically a superlative, meaning only one. Never doesn't have that quality, so it can be modified.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Well, it is debatable.

See the "Usage notes" here http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/unique?r=66

Usage note
Many authors of usage guides, editors, teachers, and others feel strongly that such “absolute” words as complete, equal, perfect, and especially unique cannot be compared because of their “meaning”: a word that denotes an absolute condition cannot be described as denoting more or less than that absolute condition.
However, all such words have undergone semantic development and are used in a number of senses, some of which can be compared by words like more, very, most, absolutely, somewhat, and totally and some of which cannot. The earliest meanings of unique when it entered English around the beginning of the 17th century were “single, sole” and “having no equal.” By the mid-19th century unique had developed a wider meaning, “not typical, unusual,” and it is in this wider sense that it is compared: The foliage on the late-blooming plants is more unique than that on the earlier varieties. The comparison of so-called absolutes in senses that are not absolute is standard in all varieties of speech and writing.

usage
Unique is normally taken to describe an absolute state, i.e. one that cannot be qualified. Thus something is either unique or not unique; it cannot be rather unique or very unique. However, unique is sometimes used informally to mean very remarkable or unusual and this makes it possible to use comparatives or intensifiers with it, although many people object to this use

Enoon · Answer

AlpheccaStarsWell, it is debatable.

Those usage notes suppose that people who say "very unique" are aware that the logical prohibition against modifying absolutes does not apply when they are using a special sense of the word that arose in the middle of the nineteenth century. They aren't just using "unique" because they don't fully understand it and can't think of a different, more precise word, and they want to say something that sounds nicer than "nice". Right. Say "very uniquely New York" five times fast.

"The comparison of so-called absolutes in senses that are not absolute is standard in all varieties of speech and writing." Says who? No it isn't. "Very unique" is laughed at in many varieties of speech and writing, and claiming it is not absolute just makes the laughter louder.

That the error arose 150 years ago is no surprise. What does it matter when people started blurting? Is a patent mistake to be hallowed by the passing years? "Very unique" blows a great big sour note on the English horn, and no delicately worded apology changes that one bit.

Anonymous · Answer

If you apply pure logic, never and unique cannot be modify the way you've presented. Unique is "being the only one of its kind", so "more" doesn't make sense here; never is "at no time in the past or future; not ever; not at all" so the adverb "almost" excludes "not ever, etc". [Definitions from Oxford Dictionaries.]

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Unfortunately, one cannot avoid the inevitable progressive changes in meaning and usage of words in any language.
Language is dynamic. It evolves before our very eyes.

I used to use "gay" to mean innocent and happy. I don't use it that way now.
I once used the verb "******" to mean inhibit, suppress, slow down. What a hostile reaction!!! I don't use it anymore.
Now "bad" means "good" and "cool" means "hot".
"D?ck and Jane" might need to be re-titled "Rick and Jane.".

So now the usage notes comment that "unique" can mean "unusual", and this additional meaning was first recorded or noticed 150 years ago. So what? Big deal!

By the way, the Corpus of American English has 79 citations of "more unique", from all sources: academic journals, newspapers, magazines, fiction, etc.

Philip · Answer

I guess Gilbert and Sullivan solved the problem in "Pinafore" with:
What, never?
Well, hardly ever.

If 'never' is to be treated as a sort of superlative, wouldn't 'always' bet treated the same? That would make 'almost always' inappropriate (which I don't believe to be true, as you know.)

Anonymous · Answer

"Almost always" is logically incoherent; it's like "to be a little bit pregnant".

Use of "almost never" and "very unique"

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