When I open the page, it says "very + loading... = loading...", for a few moments because of course you need at least a second to load two more words from the server.
Replace the “very” in your sentence
121–130 of 295 posts
Re: Replace the “very” in your sentence
#122Obligatory reminder of the elative:
In German:
sehr schnell (very fast) -> blitzschnell (lightning fast)
sehr gross (very big) -> riesengross (giant big)
sehr reich (very rich) -> steinreich (stone rich)
sehr arm (very poor) -> bettelarm (beggar poor)
It's a bit easier vocab-wise for foreigners.
Re: Replace the “very” in your sentence
#123very + very = Not Yet Added
This makes me very sad. Very very sad in fact.
Re: Replace the “very” in your sentence
#124I ran a few words through and I am not willing to buy into the elimination of very. As noted (very or not) unique and incomparable are not the same. These words have nuanced differences. Every word I checked failed to provide the a proper equivalent. Context matters. very hard is not always demanding very clean =/= sparkling very old =/= ancient very dark =/= bleak
Something can only be unique or not unique. It can't be very unique given that unique means "one of a kind".
Re: Replace the “very” in your sentence
#125Tried a few word. Mostly "not yet added". The rest reminded me that episode of friends where Joey wrote letter with thesaurus to look smart...
Re: Replace the “very” in your sentence
#126I tried out "very tired" and got "exhausted", "spent" and "flagging".
Obligatory caveat: I'm a second-language English speaker but I've been fluent for some twenty years and read and write English on a daily basis.
I expected it to suggest "exhausted" but that just feels like a synonym (interestingly, "very exhausted" has no available suggestion). It also implies prior physical or mental effort, whereas "very tired" could also be the result of bad or insufficient sleep. Synonyms are rarely equivalent and this one just seems to suggest context that may be inappropriate.
"Spent" seems like a more obvious example of this problem, putting the emphasis on depletion of energy rather than not having recovered in the first place. I'd also say it's less approachable as it's a colloquial metaphor. I know I had to do a double take when I came across this use as a learner. Either way, it's no more elegant than "very tired".
"Flagging" throws me for a loop. I have no intutive sense what that word is even intended to mean in this context. The dictionary merely suggests it's a synonym for "exhausted" but provides no etymological information or context. I would guess it's metaphorical (in the sense of "giving up" by waving a flag of surrender, or signaling for help as if waving a flag) but I wouldn't have guessed the meaning from reading it without context. Especially as I've only ever seen it used as a transitive word, meaning to mark something for review or special treatment.
Sure, avoid "very" if you want to write literature. But if you're writing for clarity rather than art, please stick to "very" if it avoids digging through a thesaurus just for the sake of it.
Re: Replace the “very” in your sentence
#127In no circumstance ever will I substitute "very thirsty" with "cottonmouthed".
Re: Replace the “very” in your sentence
#128"So avoid using the word ‘very’ because it’s lazy. A man is not very tired, he is exhausted. Don’t use very sad, use morose. Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women - and, in that endeavor, laziness will not do. It also won’t do in your essays." -- The Dead Poets Society
It’s fine to write like this to the local English-speaking team. But the international team can’t parse through the pulchritudinous prose. “Very sad” it is, then, on the technical Slack.
Ah, pulchritude. A word that everyone agrees is quite inapt; it’s an ugly word.
Re: Replace the “very” in your sentence
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think that's the point -- "very sad" is unpoetical because it doesn't convey anything more than "sad", which is itself a generic word. If you're writing poetry or fiction you want to be describing emotional states more interesting than "sad". The important corollary here is that not all language needs to be poetical. It's OK to use generic language in a lot of situations. Sometimes "I'm very sorry to hear that ____…
"Very sad" is simple and to the point. There's many situations where anything else would sound inauthentic.
I mean, the goal wasn't to sound "authentic", it was to avoid sounding "lazy" while trying to "woo women", which is the only situation considered relevant in the supposedly-inspiring speech by the maybe-a-bit-creepy professor.
Re: Replace the “very” in your sentence
#130"So avoid using the word ‘very’ because it’s lazy. A man is not very tired, he is exhausted. Don’t use very sad, use morose. Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women - and, in that endeavor, laziness will not do. It also won’t do in your essays." -- The Dead Poets Society
It’s fine to write like this to the local English-speaking team. But the international team can’t parse through the pulchritudinous prose. “Very sad” it is, then, on the technical Slack.
Since we're being pedantic, I'd point out that pulchritudinous is only used for people of great physical beauty, it's not a generic replacement for beautiful.