Is the British art of understatement ever so slightly dying out?

Gradable adverbs such as ‘rather’, ‘quite’ and ‘awfully’ are disappearing from our speech, according to linguistics professor Paul Baker. Is it a frightful shame – or are we just getting better at saying what we mean?Name: understatement.Age: not all that new.Continue reading...

Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - November 13, 2017 Category: Science Authors: Guardian Staff Tags: Language Science Source Type: news