The way people throw aroud superlatives these days is astounding. Whether it be to promote a business or promote themselves, some just seem to have delusions of grandeur. A body must be established to stop this behaviour before it reaches astronomical levels and we start to hear of the Universe's best... If you're not quite with me, take this all too common example: You see a sign outside a restaurant confidently stating 'WORLD'S GREATEST PANCAKES'. You dine here, order the pancakes, only to discover they are not the greatest pancakes you've tasted let alone the world's greatest.
So here are my questions I put to all of you in futile hope of a decent answer: Firstly, what survey or vote was undertaken to determine that this particular product is the greatest in the entire planet? Secondly, would my protestation that a certain item was not the world's best be throw out of court? Could I legitimately walk the streets announcing myself as the world's greatest man? (I might ask Bono about that one.) And lastly, what happened to just a menu, or a catalogue, or an advert without claims that cannot possibly be supported? Has it come to the point where business is this hard to come by that we must resort to such counterfactual declarations?
I am certain that (most) people are not so stupid as to fall for these statements. "Wait a minute, if we had the world's best coffee in Brazil last summer, how can we have also had the world's best in Dapto?"
Until the day comes when I see 'WORLD'S GREATEST PANCAKES*' followed by '*backed by a questionnaire answered by 6,858,979,149 respondents', this claim does not sit well with me, and neither did the pancakes come to think of it.
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