the precisely Adj N

[Mark Mandel]

On Thu, May 28, 2009 at 1:47 AM, Randy Alexander
<strangeguitars at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, May 28, 2009 at 2:47 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> > You're missing [n]othing, I think, Alison. Â "The precisely correct
> > soccer cleat" is the one that fits perfectly. Â Think Industrial
> > Revolution and interchangeable parts.
>
> Maybe it's just me then. Â It's certainly less common though.
>
> Raw Google:
> "precisely the" 6,600k
> "the precisely" 130k
>
> COCA:
> precisely the [j*] 284
> the precisely [j*] 10
>
> I still think that something like "that's precisely the right answer"
> is OK, but "that's the precisely right answer" is weird, if not
> unacceptable.

I agree that "the precisely right answer" is weird, although I might
find it OK in some contexts. There's a subtle semantic difference
between the constructions, which I am here pulling out of my... head.
"the precisely right X" suggests some careful matching of X to the
needs or to a standard, maybe even with real live _precision_ in the
engineering sense. That's how I understood it for the snow cleats (or
whatever) in the original post. I (too) often search for the precisely
right word, with all and only the meanings and associations I want.

--
Mark Mandel

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