English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

[mattheus]

I've just noticed another of my niggles: "perfectly" to mean "quite" or something similar.

Perhaps the worst case is "perfectly legal" when it means something like "within the law but deplorable."

He.

That's an interesting one. I really like that usage, and use it quite* a lot so I'm intrigued to understand your niggle - whilst defending your right to indulge it!

May I make a couple of points:
- "quite" has multiple meanings (often it means something like slightly *see above).
- the other related usage would be something like "Never jump out of a perfectly good aeroplane." (in the context of recreational parachuting)

[Bmblbzzz]

I've just noticed another of my niggles: "perfectly" to mean "quite" or something similar.

Perhaps the worst case is "perfectly legal" when it means something like "within the law but deplorable."

Is your objection linguistic or moral? Or both?

[thirdcrank]

Personal prejudice

[Audax67]

One of the Graun's favourites: making the verb agree with the wrong noun:

The report from House Democrats, citing state department records, says the number of gifts reported by Trump and his family are lower than the number disclosed by previous presidents.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... gn-nations