example, please.

i'm trying to think of things that are absolutely and utterly unlike anything else. to me, *everything* is like something else in some way, when one boils down qualities (it's red, it has sides, it's played in g minor).

maybe i'm having an obtuse moment, but my point of differentiation would be in something's rate of occurrence, as opposed to its actual qualities. right? no? you see the sky every day. you might only see that cloud formation or alignment of planets visible to the eye on rare occasion. or white athletic sox, three to a pack at [insert store here], versus the black latex stockings with the silver spiked toes. if you took each of those items and made a list of what they were like and not like, would one be longer than the other? what strikes me or turns my eye is the thing that you don't see every day.

i personally am not in favor of 'very' unique, or 'very' used as a modifier of most things. i think we use 'very' when we overuse something else, to make the thing that is 'very' that much more so. and i'm not so down with that.

i think i *am* having an obtuse moment, since rereading anathema device's post i see that we are in agreement on the 'very' piece.

but i'm still sort of chewing on the fact that something may be unique in some ways, and not in others, and wondering what makes something unique. rate of occurrence feels more like 'rare' than 'unique' to me.