The Edge of Greatness? (was "Errors")

[Kevin Amery]

On 5/22/07, Combs, Richard <richard.combs at polycom.com> wrote:
> I've never bought the argument that absolute terms such as perfect,
> unique, and equal can't take qualifiers of degree. Perfection
> (uniqueness, equality, ...) is rarely achieved, but it can be
> _approached_.
>


The way I learned it (which may well be incorrect) was that perfect
was an absolute. Saying your test results were 99% perfect is like
saying you're 99% pregnant.

This lead to another piece of wisdom (which I think is a Russian
proverb, but don't quote me): "perfect is the enemy of good." Meaning
that by insisting on making everything perfect (which is unattainable
by mere mortals), you prevent something that's "merely" excellent from
actually being used and delivered.

But to go back to the U.S. constitution, we should also remember that
usage changes over time. The correct usage of "perfect" is not
necessarily the same now as it was in 1776.

-- 
Until next time...

Kevin Amery