Discussion Groups / English Usage / November 2006

"Not at all" means "completely un-". The implication is that if one
is even the least bit helpful, then one is ungradedly helpful.

The darulaok entity posted thusly:

Can there be degrees of helpful? Of course there can. However, "less
than helpful" is not, by definition, included in the degrees of
helpfulness. It is outside helpfulness. It is, therefore, "completely
unhelpful", as well as "not at all helpful".

"not very helpful" would indicate that there was some degree of
helpfulness present; how much we don't know

If I stopped to ask directions, and someone said "Follow this road
until you get to the first traffic light, then turn left and go one
block.", I would classify that as very helpful.

If the person said "Follow this road a ways, then turn right.", I
would classify it as not very helpful, even though the directions are
accurate, they are not explicit and clear.

If the person said "It's around here somewhere", I'd call that less
than helpful, or unhelpful, or completely unhelpful.

Dictionaries only have so much room for discussion of phrases, and when
a phrase is idiomatic, some of the nuance can get lost.

"Was less than X" is a sarcasm roughly equal to "Was something much
less than what one would call 'X'".  What, in turn, "much less than"
signifies depends on the degree of sarcasm intended, which can range
from very mild to biting.  One must simply try to judge from context.

To make a crude example, if a detective is questioning someone and
feels he is being lied to on all significant matters, he might
later--when reporting that--say that the subject was less than helpful;
but if he tries to question someone and that person punches him or
takes a shot at him, he could also later say that so-and-so was less
than helpful, but--obviously--the degree of sarcasm is much greater.

The quoted sentence seems to mean that Eliot's conduct in or concerning
the matter at issue was such as to make it especially hard for his
apologists to justify it, probably meaning that it was flagrant or
showed disdain for any critics of it.

"George Bush's first six years in office were less than helpful to the
Republican party in the 2006 elections."  Context is paramount.

You have missed the point -- which is not so much
one of lexigraphy (dictionary meaning) but oratorical
style viz. litotes (which you can look up.)  It means
implying XYZ by saying that it is not non-XYZ.

Litotes can also be employed as an intensifier.   If
your friend was a pathological liar you might say he
did not often tell the truth -- meaning he always lied.
T.S. Eliot engaged in literary polemics but was so
vain he believed he could win any argument alone --
thus was "less than helpful" to his partisans.  President
Bush's recent attempt to get a new Republican governor
elected in Florida was judged by Floridians to be less
than helpful to his candidate -- meaning that Bush's
intervention actually harmed the candidate.