WAY OT.. Terminal words.

[JRouche]

I was talking with my son and he was saying this is the "best" game (video) ever. I kinda laughed and said you prolly mean its the best for the day or week. But it cant be the best for all of your life right? And he is 12 and said YES its the best ever.

So I tried to explain what "terminal" words are and how they dont really have ANY standing.

Terminal words like Best, Worst, Top and Bottom (and ALL the other words) dont really fit. They are used but useless.

So Ill fit it in here for the HSM. As we ALL know. You cant machine a part to the N'th number. Why? Well the dot on the end (I say end because there is always a front number, it might be ONE, but its always there, a negative number has to have a starting point and its always ONE) of the number is infinite.

You can say Im looking for a spec of .001 Not as simple as it seems either, to hold a spec of .001" for all of the dimensions is hard and not in the realm of most HSMs. Carry the dot further to .0001 and it gets really difficult. Go further... Yes, the number can get really large. Funny how a negative number can be large. .ooooo1" is a large number to work with but its very small in dimension.

My point I was trying to explain to my son is there are NO absolutes. There is no such thing as "best", "worst" "top" or "bottom" . Those are terminal words and there is no such thing as terminal in the real world. Well of course the physical laws as we know them, but I think in the next 1500 years even they will change as we understand them.

The words that end with "est" Best. worst, I say worest) largest, smallest, biggest, tightest, loosest, closest. The list gos on..... Many are "terminal" words and our kids might actually hold that to be true. But really there is NO end or best.

KIDS!!!! Try teaching your teenage kids. They think you are full of saw dust and wont hear any of it. In my case Jake is prolly better, I AM full of saw dust LOL JR

[caveBob]

My point I was trying to explain to my son is there are NO absolutes.

Ya, but can you say that absolutely?...

... I take your meaning though, just a quick flashback from when my son was a teen. Hey, it gets better...

[winchman]

You can only do something the first time once. That's an absolute.

[lynnl]

Are you saying then, that the Pacific is NOT the largest ocean on earth after all? ...or Mount Everest the highest mountain?

I'm not sure what you mean by "terminal words," is that different from the superlative form? e.g. from english class, we have the descriptive, comparative, and superlative. i.e. good, better, best.

[vpt]

I bet the whole time your son was thinking "leave me alone, I want to play the best game ever!".

[gnm109]

There are some absolutes. My last boss before I went self employed was the dumbest, most arrogant, most narcissistic fellow in the universe.

[Lew Hartswick]

Certainly there are absolutes, "within a set". If there are a limited
number of items, then there is always a "best/largest/smallest/etc.
within the set. come on where did youall go to school? :-)
...lew...

[vpt]

Whats the best mill to get?

[atty]

Whats the best mill to get?

...the largest.

[lynnl]

Certainly there are absolutes, "within a set". ...lew...

That was my point.

Normally when superlatives are used, qualifiers such as "known" are to be understood. e.g. "...the dumbest, most arrogant known man in the universe."