WORDS! WORDS! WORDS!
Unique?
Or just unusual
Your thumbprint is unique. There is not another thumbprint exactly like yours among all of the 7.8 billion people on this planet. Same with snowflakes: There are 5.2 quintillion of them in a snowstorm, not a single one quite like any other. Each one is unique.
Merriam-Webster has four definitions for the word “unique”:
- “the only one”
- “without a like or equal”
- “distinctively characteristic”
- “able to be distinguished from all others of its class or type”
If you think about definitions two, three and four, you will probably agree with me that all they do is repeat the first one. “The only one” is the only definition needed. Or as I like to think of it: “the one and only.” This is the definition of the Latin word “unicus,” which is where “unique” comes from.
But there’s a problem. There is a fifth definition in most dictionaries:
- “not typical; unusual.”
Humph!
What’s wrong with saying “unusual” when you mean “not usual or different” and “unique” when you mean “one and only”? There’s a big difference between the two words:
- The girl bully at your school does not have a…
