Languagehound
New member
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2012
- Member Type
- Interested in Language
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- United States
- Current Location
- United States
I have noticed what seems to me, some odd usage of quantitative comparisons. I would welcome opinions.
Phrases including a multiplication factor with a diminutive quantity and comparing only two objects are bugging me. Example:
A tennis ball is five times smaller than a soccer ball.
It seems counter intuitive and completely illogical to use an expansive (five times) adverb with a shrinking (smaller) adjective. It also seems to impute a certain automatically perceived "smallness" to the soccer ball when there is no additional range of reference to make this conclusion.
Another example:
The drive from San Diego to Los Angeles is four times closer than to San Francisco. (guesstimating ;-))
Thoughts?
Phrases including a multiplication factor with a diminutive quantity and comparing only two objects are bugging me. Example:
A tennis ball is five times smaller than a soccer ball.
It seems counter intuitive and completely illogical to use an expansive (five times) adverb with a shrinking (smaller) adjective. It also seems to impute a certain automatically perceived "smallness" to the soccer ball when there is no additional range of reference to make this conclusion.
Another example:
The drive from San Diego to Los Angeles is four times closer than to San Francisco. (guesstimating ;-))
Thoughts?