When someone says something like, "That is arguably the best move I've ever seen!" does it make you go "huh?"?
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Val123 (
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June 3rd, 2010
In the last five years (that I’ve noticed, anyway) people are starting to use the word “arguably,” in place of “unarguably” and it seems silly to me. Everything can be “argued.” However, if a sports commentator says, “Micheal Jordan is, unarguably, the best basketball player of all time,” it gives a little more weight to his opinion, but it can STILL be argued, of course.
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6 Answers
I haven’t heard people say that but it is funny. Usually it is ‘unarguably’ or ‘hands down the best’. That’s like saying “This is the best movie ever! But I am open to debate on the topic!” Lol…....
I think the insinuation is that (to use your example) you could make a valid argument that Michael Jordan is the greatest player of all time. If you instead say ‘unarguably’, you’re essentially stating your opinion as fact.
@Ivan Oh! Hi! But…why even put the word ‘arguably” in the sentence? The first time I remember hearing it, my daughter said, “Mom, you make, arguably, the best fried chicken ever!” Kind took a little something out of the compliment!
I don’t like when people post a video on youtube or something that’s titled “Best dunk ever!”, but the dunk seems mediocre to me lol.
@Val123
See, I actually use the word ‘arguably’ to make the compliment more meaningful. If I just say “you make the best chicken ever!”, that sounds like an insincere exaggeration. But if I say “you make, arguably, the best chicken ever”, that’s saying that I could actually make a case that your chicken really is the best ever.
To me it’s like saying “Lot’s of people wouldn’t agree, though!” and that not cool in a compliment! If she said, simply, “You make the best chicken ever!” well, it’s known that it could still be argued with, but it doesn’t matter because you make the best chicken ever!
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