As someone who has taught college students writing for the last 35 years, I may be uniquely qualified to comment on the misuse of the word “unique.”
Actually, in the University Writing Program at UC Davis I have dozens of colleagues (all but one of them with less seniority than me) who could comment helpfully and cogently on the word “unique,” but you have stumbled your way into my essay, so I will give it a try.
In 1970, Los Angeles Times columnist Jack Smith declared that “it is almost a lost cause to argue that ‘unique’ means unduplicated… Everything is more unique than everything else.” More than half a century later, his lament still rings true. The word “unique” has drifted from its original sense—one of a kind—into a catchall for noteworthy, special, or different.
In the hundreds of classes that I have taught, I have seen this small erosion of meaning mirror a larger cultural trend: the surrender of precision to emphasis. I come across so many “emphasis” words – often adverbs, they include “amazingly,” “incredibly,” and “extremely” – that I have created an acronym that targets this problem. “ONI” means “omit needless intensifiers.”
Students (and podcasters and YouTubers) often seek to use “unique” as another intensifier, but doing so often halts the forward momentum of the reader who knows what the word actually means.
Unique is misused in so many ways that they deserve to be listed so we can discern and distinguish their “unique” properties.
1. The relative fallacy
Some students treat unique as if it were a sliding scale, writing that one thing is “more unique” than another. This is like claiming to be “more married” than your spouse, or that the water in your glass is “more wet,” the way Kristin Wiig’s hair-twirling Penelope is always trying to one-up people with her “deep breaths” and such on Saturday Night Live. In standard English, something either is or isn’t one of a kind.
2. The “special” substitution
Writers often use unique when they mean unusual or distinctive. A cat wearing a bow tie may be distinctive, but it is not unique. In a world with the Internet, we can safely assume there’s another cat in formalwear somewhere, especially so close to Halloween.
3. The unnecessary booster
“Very unique” and “kind of unique” sound earnest but self-defeating. “Unique” already carries its own emphasis. Adding modifiers to the word would be like putting training wheels on your racing bicycle in order to participate in the Davis 4th of July Criterium. As Jack Smith says, “There are no degrees of uniqueness, except in American advertising.”
4. The context-free compliment
“Her essay is unique” tells us little. Unique how? Because of the subject, the tone, or the number of exclamation points? A claim of uniqueness gains force only when the writer explains the basis for it. One thinks of the Cambridge dictionary definition of “faint praise”: “praise that is not very strong or enthusiastic, suggesting that you do not admire someone or something very much.” In American English, if you do not admire someone very much, you actually don’t admire him at all. At this point, everyone reading this is probably thinking of a man who is difficult to admire.
5. The praise-inflation problem
Even some teachers use the word “unique” as a generic thumbs-up. “Your argument is unique,” offered with a smile and a nod, usually means “I liked it.” Classroom leaders should instead describe what makes something work, such as its evidence, structure, or insights. Precision makes praise more believable and helpful. As Nabokov once said, “A writer should have the precision of a poet and the imagination of a scientist.”
6. The category confusion
Writers sometimes apply “unique” to a group: “Each student wrote a unique five-paragraph essay on the same topic.” If they all followed the same template, they are not unique. They are simply compliant. Groups are typically heterogeneous, and that’s why we like them.
7. The historical drift
The overuse of unique reflects a larger linguistic slide. We like intensity and exaggeration; understatement feels dull, or difficult to pull off. But restoring a word to its original meaning can remind students that clarity often carries more authority than excitement, and certainly more than insincerity. Many people allude to George Orwell in this era, so I will add a relevant Orwell quotation: “The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns, as it were, instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out ink.”
8. The modest proposal
Let us reserve unique for the truly one-of-a-kind: a solar eclipse, a live and improvised jazz solo, a poem no one else could have written, you. For everything else, English offers an abundant vocabulary of distinction. Most words do not require a superlative to prove their worth. Consider how much weaker James Brown’s best-known song would be if he were to repeat “I feel very good” or, worse yet, “I feel unique.”
The rain has concluded for now, and your outdoor seat will be wiped down by the time you arrive at the pub quiz this evening. Come early to claim a coveted outdoor table. I invite you to join the regulars and irregulars outside our favorite brewery tonight for a grand competition featuring 31 questions on a variety of topics you should know something about. There might be a larger crowd than usual, so come early. Today’s pub quiz is 953 words.
In addition to topics raised above and below, expect questions tonight on the following: aquatic beasts, dance moves, sneakers, populous cities, films with Oscar-winners, gentlemen, tigers, victors, hosts, instability, comedies, guides, cities long rivers, sequels, defunct companies, jealous husbands, arm swings, defections, sorcerers, sable heroes, ships and guns, singers, college stories, earthquakes, prizes, ribs, quarterbacks, fangs, color of water, state-owned enterprises, California heroes, electric vehicles, consoles, U.S. states, geography, current events, and Shakespeare.
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Thanks to all the new players joining us at the live quizzes and to all the patrons who have been enjoying fresh Pub Quiz content. We have over 80 Patreon members now, including the new paid subscribers Kiera, Esther, James, Damian, Jim, and Meebles! I should write a question for Kiera. Thanks also to new subscribers Prescott, Bill and Diane, Tamara, Megan, Michael, Janet, Jasmine, Joey, Carly, The X-Ennial Falcons, and The Nevergiveruppers! Every week I check the Patreon to see if there is someone new to thank. Maybe next week it will be you! I also thank The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, Still Here for the Shakesbeer, The Outside Agitators, John Poirier’s team Quizimodo, Gena Harper, the conversationally entertaining dinner companions and bakers of marvelous and healthy treats, The Mavens. I appreciate the Mavens’ kind words to me in the newspaper. Thanks in particular to my paid subscribers on Substack. Thanks to everyone who supports the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of pub quiz boosters. Also, I sometimes remember to add an extra hint on Patreon. I appreciate your backing this pub quiz project of mine!
I also want to recognize those who visit my Substack the most often, including Luna, Jean, Ron, Myrna, and Maria, to whom I send sustained compassion.
Best,
Dr. Andy
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P.S. Local educator Chris Erickson will be reading from his new novella HENRYTOWN this coming Thursday night at 7 at Poetry Night. You should join us.