We need new superlatives. We& #39;re wearing the old ones out.

Seriously, if we look at evaluative adjectives (fine, okay, good, great, awesome, perfect), that& #39;s...approx. 6 levels of comparison, at base? Maybe twice that if you include modifiers like "pretty" or "really"?

That& #39;s far from enough levels to communicate the nuance of comparison explicitly, let alone implicitly. And that& #39;s after we& #39;ve brought several words that used to be superlative down in magnitude.

"That was great, and by great I mean the classical definition like as in Alexander the Great, not the colloquial great."

"That was awesome, but not as in & #39;inspiring awe& #39; I just mean I thought it was cool."

I wonder if there& #39;s something to the idea of "superlative creep" where superlatives slowly become assimilated into colloquial use, leaving a lexical hole where their traditional definitions were.

I& #39;d ask a linguist if I knew one.

(This thread brought to you by this week& #39;s episode of "trying to go to sleep outside my natural circadian rhythm so that I can wake up for my 8am")