"not bad" and "not too bad"

Can anyone give a relation between these two?

Cheers.

[Tdol]

They're similar- the seocnd is, IMO, a bit weaker.

[Casiopea]

Originally Posted by phalkun

Can anyone give a relation between these two?

Cheers.

In addition,

It's not bad. (It's neither good nor bad; it's in the middle.)

Example
Sam: How are you?
Pat: Not bad. :D

bad-----------------------not bad------------------------good

It's not so bad. (It's closer to good than it is to bad)

Example
Pat: How are you, Sam?
Sam: Not so bad. :D

bad----------------------------------not so bad----------good

All the best, :D

[Steven D]

Originally Posted by phalkun

Can anyone give a relation between these two?

Cheers.

not bad - If you say this, then you're good.

not too bad - If you say this, then you're still good. The implication is that you are good, but could be better. So, you could say you're just little bit bad, but not so much that you can say that you are bad.

not bad - You're good.

not too bad - What would have to change in order to just say "not bad" or "good". By saying "not too bad", we could think that not a lot has to be changed.

example:

How's it going?

Not too bad.

The speaker that says "not too bad" wants to inform the listener that things are good, but there is room for improvement. Things are bad, but still good as well - not too bad.

Thank you all.

[Abusaad]

Originally Posted by tdol

They're similar- the seocnd is, IMO, a bit weaker.

Excuse my ignorance, what does IMO stand for?

I suggest that there should be a section for frequently used abbreviations.

[Casiopea]

Originally Posted by Abusaad

Excuse my ignorance, what does IMO stand for?

I suggest that there should be a section for frequently used abbreviations.

IMO means, In my opinion. :wink:

Actually, spelling out the words is more preferred at UsingEnglish.com. 8) Using net-speak (i.e., IMO) is the least preferred.

All the best, :D

[Francois]

This one is very common, though. I don't think it's a bad thing to learn some frequently used abbreviations, provided it doesn't degenerate into @Wf00l t3xTsPe4|<.

FRC