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Discussion Groups / English Usage / July 2009uniquely
On a Sunday morning news show today, Bill Bennett said that Obama is "uniquely qualified" to urge young men to be good fathers, becaues he is an excellent husband and father. Does Bill know what unique means? Does he think Obama is the only good father? The only good father in Washington. The only good father who's a black man? (That would apply if he thinks that all the absentee fathers are black.) but I think he just doesn't know what uniquely means.  SignaturePosters should say where they live, and for which area they are asking questions. I have lived in Western Pa. 10 years Indianapolis 10 years Chicago 6 years Brooklyn, NY 12 years Baltimore 26 years > On a Sunday morning news show today, Bill Bennett said that Obama is > "uniquely qualified" to urge young men to be good fathers, becaues he [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > absentee fathers are black.) but I think he just doesn't know what > uniquely means. Perhaps Bennett thought it unnecessary to point out a third qualification that does make Obama unique among fathers (indeed, all people) and enables him to urge, with unique persuasiveness, that young men be good fathers. Can you guess what it is? SignatureBob Lieblich Uniquely riddled >On a Sunday morning news show today, Bill Bennett said that Obama is >"uniquely qualified" to urge young men to be good fathers, becaues he [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >absentee fathers are black.) but I think he just doesn't know what >uniquely means. Obama's qualifications are unique. He is the only person in the United States who can offer advice as the seated President. SignatureTony Cooper - Orlando, Florida >>On a Sunday morning news show today, Bill Bennett said that Obama is >>"uniquely qualified" to urge young men to be good fathers, becaues he is [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > Obama's qualifications are unique. He is the only person in the United > States who can offer advice as the seated President. Assuredly so, but--based on the OP's rendition of what was said--that qualification does not seem to be among the ones considered germane. More likely the use was simply a slip, one ever easier to make in an era when "fairly unique" and its close kin are ever more become commonplaces. SignatureCordially, Eric Walker, Owlcroft House http://owlcroft.com/english/ >>>On a Sunday morning news show today, Bill Bennett said that Obama is >>>"uniquely qualified" to urge young men to be good fathers, becaues he is [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] >More likely the use was simply a slip, one ever easier to make in an era >when "fairly unique" and its close kin are ever more become commonplaces. The OP's rendition is irrelevant. The OP can imagine any number of things that Bennett may have had in mind, but only Bennett's rendition is relevant. All we know of that is two words, and those two words apply to Obama. SignatureTony Cooper - Orlando, Florida [...] >>Assuredly so, but--based on the OP's rendition of what was said--that >>qualification does not seem to be among the ones considered germane. [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > is relevant. All we know of that is two words, and those two words > apply to Obama. The OP said: "Bill Bennett said that Obama is 'uniquely qualified' to urge young men to be good fathers, because he is an excellent husband and father." Presumably the "because he is an excellent husband and father" is a rendition of what Bennett *said*, not what he might have been thinking. SignatureCordially, Eric Walker, Owlcroft House http://owlcroft.com/english/ >[...] > [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] >is a rendition of what Bennett *said*, not what he might have been >thinking. We don't know that, do we? Delete "because" from the OP's rendition and the "uniquely qualified" becomes a legitimate claim. SignatureTony Cooper - Orlando, Florida >>[...] >> [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > We don't know that, do we? Delete "because" from the OP's rendition and > the "uniquely qualified" becomes a legitimate claim. Why delete it? It's what he wrote in presenting what Bennett said. OK, I decided to look it up (http://transcripts.cnn.com/ TRANSCRIPTS/0906/21/sotu.03.html)--here is the exact transcript: "But what he is saying there is pater, the one who takes care, takes responsibility. "By the way, he is almost uniquely suited to speak to this. He seems, by all accounts, not seems, is a fine husband and fine father." So in the end, it doesn't matter, owing to the "almost". (I suspect that a better print rendition of his words would be "He seems, by all accounts--not seems, _is_--a fine husband and fine father," just for the sake of it's making sense.) By the bye, are we to the stage where being a fine husband and fine father is a status almost unique? SignatureCordially, Eric Walker, Owlcroft House http://owlcroft.com/english/ > OK, I decided to look it up (http://transcripts.cnn.com/ > > "By the way, he is almost uniquely suited to speak to this. Thank you. I had been wondering overnight whether "placed" would have been better than "qualified". In passing I mention that I perceive "speak to" to be an almost uniquely AmE usage. > By the bye, are we to the stage where being a fine husband and fine > father is a status almost unique? Never in the world! We may, however, be *at* the stage, (surely?*) when being a fine husband and fine father and POTUS is a status definitely unique. *Have you been reading Patrick O'Brian recently? [...] >> By the bye, are we to the stage where being a fine husband and fine >> father is a status almost unique? > > Never in the world! We may, however, be *at* the stage, (surely?*) when > being a fine husband and fine father and POTUS is a status definitely > unique. As elsewhere noted, merely the last suffices for uniqueness. > *Have you been reading Patrick O'Brian recently? I have always expressed the thought with the phrase "to the stage", though of course being aware of "at the stage". It is, I suppose, elliptical for (in this use) "are we come to the stage". Mere "to the stage"--where "stage" signifies "state" or "status"--is not in itself an exceptional or exceptionable usage (as in "[T]he purpose of school is to bring you to the stage where you can function without a school"). Surely if one can be brought to a stage, once there one could say "I am now come to this stage." (Mind, that may set off klaxons amongst those who don't like "be" in place of "have" as an auxiliary, despite both "our guests are gone" and "our guests have gone"--which demonstrate the slight shading of meaning that the two auxiliaries allow--being sound and idiomatic English.) My wife is an inveterate fan of O'Brien's, but I have never read a word of him. SignatureCordially, Eric Walker, Owlcroft House http://owlcroft.com/english/ > (Mind, that may set off klaxons amongst those who don't like "be" in > place of "have" as an auxiliary, despite both "our guests are gone" and > "our guests have gone"--which demonstrate the slight shading of meaning > that the two auxiliaries allow--being sound and idiomatic English.) It sets off nothing but applause where I am concerned. > My wife is an inveterate fan of O'Brien's, but I have never read a word > of him. O'Brian with an 'a' if you mean the writer whose phantom is (hopefully) striding the quarter-deck of a certain frigate. [...] >> My wife is an inveterate fan of O'Brien's, but I have never read a word >> of him. > > O'Brian with an 'a' if you mean the writer whose phantom is (hopefully) > striding the quarter-deck of a certain frigate. Yes, that's the one. Why can't these fellows spell their names correctly? SignatureCordially, Eric Walker, Owlcroft House http://owlcroft.com/english/ > [...] > [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > is a rendition of what Bennett *said*, not what he might have been > thinking. He probably meant "obliquely qualified". SignatureMarshall Price of Miami marshallprice@att.net http://marshallprice.wordpress.com |
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