Virtually Impossible

My thoughts?
Calm down.
People get so worked up over language.

One more time, for those in the balcony:
Language is not a science. It is a method for the expression of ideas between people. "Laws" of language only exist because they facilitate the translation of ideas. Getting your feathers ruffled about somebody doing some pet-peevey thing with language indicates that you are being too sensitive.

"Complex in it's simplicity" and "bittersweet" are both oxymorons. What's wrong with oxymorons? And what's wrong with "rough around the edges" or "garden-variety"? Those are idioms. They're not meant to be descriptive, really. They're just cliches everybody uses so that they don't have to go into too much detail (which would waste time).

I'd like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that the correct phrase is "couldn't care less," not "could care less."

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Original post by BradDaBug I'd like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that the correct phrase is "couldn't care less," not "could care less."

Unless, of course, you mean that you could care less.
I would prefer "very difficult" to "virtually impossible", but it's nothing to get mad(note: angry and mad are not the same thing) over.
I've never heard "complex in it's simplicty"
The rest are fine and make plenty of sense

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Original post by stylin I hear phrases like the thread title and it makes me squirm. Combining a relative with an absolute just makes no sense - for either word.

Yes it does. "Making that touchdown was virtually impossible" means that making the touchdown was an exceedingly difficult task. Possibility is not a binary state; it progresses by degrees. In the same vein, you can say something is "mostly black" or "mostly green" if it largely comprises that color.

On the other hand, "mostly unique" is wrong. Uniqueness is a binary property; something is either unique, or it is not. There is no in between. However, if you'd said "the ideas in this paper are mostly unique", that's okay; the individual elements are what are unique or not, and we are saying that most of them have the property of being unique.

Yes, but I would say that impossible is binary as well. Either it is, or it isn't; I don't see any gray area here. "Impossible" doesn't mean "difficult", since "difficult" implies a possibility.

I hate the use of words the defeat the purpose of any factual sense in the sentence. Example one:

Fact A is so obviously true. (Well, if it's so obvious, why did you have to point it out?)

Example two:

I can't believe you didn't know Fact A! (Fact A is an opinion of yours...)

I've done this in past, especially when arguing in debate style. Now it sets my teeth on edge whenever I hear it. It makes me think the person is just using those statements as veiled insults.

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Original post by Extrarius Quote: Original post by BradDaBug I'd like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that the correct phrase is "couldn't care less," not "could care less." Unless, of course, you mean that you could care less. I would prefer "very difficult" to "virtually impossible", but it's nothing to get mad(note: angry and mad are not the same thing) over. I've never heard "complex in it's simplicty" The rest are fine and make plenty of sense

Take an older version of Frontpage, or the use of templates in C++, or the idea of scripting language in games, or assembly language. People may say those things are "complex in their simplicity", meaning a higher-order outcome from their usage.

I don't get mad when I hear these phrases, it's more of a perplexed state; I know what they mean, of course, but I also know that they're smart enough to use phrases which more concisely portray their intention.

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Original post by stylin I know what they mean, of course, but I also know that they're smart enough to use phrases which more concisely portray their intention.

So you know what they mean, and all it took was two words. Seems pretty concise to me.

Sounds to me like you just have a problem with idiomatic expressions. Sucks to be you.

CM

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Original post by stylin Yes, but I would say that impossible is binary as well. Either it is, or it isn't; I don't see any gray area here. "Impossible" doesn't mean "difficult", since "difficult" implies a possibility.

The virtual in "virtually impossible" means "almost". So, "virtually impossible" means "almost impossible". I don't see how that's binary...

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Original post by Oberon_Command Quote: Original post by stylin Yes, but I would say that impossible is binary as well. Either it is, or it isn't; I don't see any gray area here. "Impossible" doesn't mean "difficult", since "difficult" implies a possibility. The virtual in "virtually impossible" means "almost". So, "virtually impossible" means "almost impossible". I don't see how that's binary...

Because you can't count to "impossible". It's analogous to "nearly infinite". What?

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Original post by Conner McCloud Sounds to me like you just have a problem with idiomatic expressions. Sucks to be you.

Don't I know it. [sad]

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Original post by stylin Yes, but I would say that impossible is binary as well. Either it is, or it isn't; I don't see any gray area here. "Impossible" doesn't mean "difficult", since "difficult" implies a possibility.

Impossible means "zero possibility". Possible means "possibility greater than zero". That's not a binary state any more than "black" and "not black"; there is a wide range of choices (gray-black, charcoal, very dark gray, light gray, white, etc.). Using the color example, is it wrong to say something is "almost green"?

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Original post by BradDaBug I'd like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that the correct phrase is "couldn't care less," not "could care less."

I second this. I hear a lot of people talking about how they could care less about something. So I am thinking, then why don't you? Care less until you can't anymore and then say it correctly [smile].

The phrase "virtually impossible" don't irk me though, somehow I can see the logic in it.

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Original post by stylin Don't I know it. [sad]

idiom You clearly have issues with people using phrases that aren't easily parsed. I feel sorry for your closed mindedness.

CM

I guess the confusion arises because I'm wrongly attributing "impossible" to being an absolute state. Sure, you can have 15% possiblity, 10% and on down. But no matter how low you go, there's an infinite jump from 0.00001% to 0.0%, and I don't see "nearly" or "almost" being anywhere near to infinity. Should I?

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Original post by stylin I guess the confusion arises because I'm wrongly attributing "impossible" to being an absolute state. Sure, you can have 15% possiblity, 10% and on down. But no matter how low you go, there's an infinite jump from 0.00001% to 0.0%, and I don't see "nearly" or "almost" being anywhere near to infinity. Should I?

If you should, the phrase makes perfect sense as is. If you shouldn't, the phrase is an idiom, and it still makes perfect sense because you know what it means. Either way, common usage has defined 'virtually impossible' to mean 'really really hard.'

CM

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Original post by stylin I guess the confusion arises because I'm wrongly attributing "impossible" to being an absolute state. Sure, you can have 15% possiblity, 10% and on down. But no matter how low you go, there's an infinite jump from 0.00001% to 0.0%, and I don't see "nearly" or "almost" being anywhere near to infinity. Should I?

Yes. If you think the difference between the numbers 0.00001 and 0 is infinity, you're going to be in for a bummer the next time you take a math test. =)

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Original post by kSquared Quote: Original post by stylin I guess the confusion arises because I'm wrongly attributing "impossible" to being an absolute state. Sure, you can have 15% possiblity, 10% and on down. But no matter how low you go, there's an infinite jump from 0.00001% to 0.0%, and I don't see "nearly" or "almost" being anywhere near to infinity. Should I? Yes. If you think the difference between the numbers 0.00001 and 0 is infinity, you're going to be in for a bummer the next time you take a math test. =)

[smile] To clarify, I meant that there's an infinite number of potential possiblities within that range.

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Original post by stylin, and I don't see "nearly" or "almost" being anywhere near to infinity.

Just wanted to point that out.[wink]