And by “good”, I obviously mean [checks notes] 6.92 out of 10.
Words are subjective, and that’s why scientists like objective things like numbers and data. Those make for a great (7.76/10) way of describing things in a way that everyone can understand and relate to.
But there is definitely some agreement when it comes to adjectives describing the goodity or the baditude of things. Look at this:
Here’s a list of adjectives which people have scored indicating just how “good” they feel the word is. And there are some lovely bell curves there: the best one being “average”, which at 5.09/10 is pretty much spot on for what you might think, but then the good stuff outweighs the bad ones on here, so it doesn’t quite work.
“Perfect” clearly isn’t perfect at all. As an absolute, we really should be seeing 10s across the board like Com?neci in Montreal, but some weirdo seems to have said that it’s only 4/10 and that goes to show just how unreliable words – and people – can be. So next time someone tells you that you are perfect, just remember that they could mean somewhere between “mediocre” and “below average”.
Ouch.
All in all though, there’s not a lot to argue with here. Generally, I’d say it’s OK (which I was happy to see was above “average”), and I can go on using my adjectives and superlatives safe in the knowledge that most people will just about understand exactly what I mean.