deg (01/12/83)
While we're talking usage, how about the way "comparable" is used to mean "roughly equivalent"? Is it a special scientific usage that the word means: "able to be compared - having the same units"? In that sense, one can say "the New York Times and the Woodridge Progress have comparable circulations", meaning that both measure circulation in "number of papers sold", but that does not seem to be what people \want/ the word to mean. In ads, does everyone understand "comparable" to mean: "ours is not quite as good, but we think its OK" ? David Good Bell Labs, Naperville (iwsl1!deg)