: )

[conuly]

There's this one restaurant on Staten Island that runs commercials saying, at the end, "There's Nothing Like It On Staten Island!"

This, of course, drives my mother absolutely wild because, of course, there *is* something like it on Staten Island, and that's the restaurant itself.

I've got a new one for her. Reading A Wizard of Mars (although I've been a lot less enthused with that series since A Wizard Alone... and really, the first three books continue to be the best) they have the line "Mars is the most earthlike planet in our solar system." Except it's not. Earth, pretty much by definition, is the most earthlike planet in our solar system. Mars is second-best.

I mean, duh.

A word to the wise. None of you, ever, engage in a conversation with my mother, or anybody else in my family. Especially over Scrabble (which you'll lose if it's against my mother) or Boggle (ditto). I love my family, but really - it's an affliction.

Comments

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

I think I would argue about 'nothing like it'. The thing is not thinglike; it is the thing.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Same here. I think someone has missed the point of comparison, to be honest.

[conuly]

My mother's view - and I agree with her - is that it's more idiomatic to say there's nothing else like it on Staten Island.

Things are thinglike by their very nature. If they're not, they're not things, they're something else.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

It may be more logical/precise to put it like that, but more idiomatic? "Nothing like it" is clearly idiomatic or you wouldn't hear it so often. Besides, it might well be shorthand for "nothing else like it" and just lost the "else" because everyone knows what's meant, anyway...
I mean, sure, you can see it differently if you want to. But I wouldn't dare to consider it a rule. And if it isn't a rule, it's kind of pointless to get angry.

I dunno. I wouldn't say "Humans are the most humanoid species in all the universe", either. Humans aren't humanoid; humans are human. Humanoid implies "kind of like human, but not quite". Likewise, "thing-like" implies "kind of like thing, but not quite". So nah, I wouldn't consider the thing "thinglike". If it's only thinglike, there's something missing.

[conuly]

I don't hear it often. This is the only place, in fact, and now "The most earthlike planet". Mostly people say nothing *else* like it.

[marveen.livejournal.com]

May be regional, 'cause I hear "nothing like X" quite a lot when people are talking in comparative terms.

Remember the "could care less" and "couldn't care less" idioms meaning much the same thing.

[conuly]

If it's regional to where you are, I'll keep my mouth shut about it should I ever visit or you should come out with it.

It's not regional to where I am, though, so I continue to acknowledge my right (and my mother's) to be irritated by the phrase on a local commercial for a local business.

And could care less makes my teeth itch. Language changes, and I accept that, but that doesn't mean I have to like every single change that happens.

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

I heard it a hell of a lot growing up on the Island. I think it has more to do with "not getting out enough with people who talk a lot, and talking with them" then it not being used. :-p