That was the most unkindest cut of all

Status
Not open for further replies.

notletrest

Senior Member
Joined
May 3, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Chinese
Home Country
China
Current Location
China
Hi, teacher,
"That was the most unkindest cut of all." sounds strange to me. I can't understand it. Why is there "the most" before " unkindest" , the adjective in superlative degree?
Thanks!
 

Frank Antonson

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Sorry, maybe I should not have quoted that.
It comes from Shakespeare. I believe that Mark Antony said it about a wound in the dead Julius Caesar. What I meant to do was to show that English must not always obey rules to be great. Shakespeare used the superlative degree twice for emphasis.
Something similar happens with the double negative that Beatrice uses in "Much Ado About Nothing" when she says, "Stop his mouth with a kiss and let him not speak neither" (or something like that).
Frank
 

notletrest

Senior Member
Joined
May 3, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Chinese
Home Country
China
Current Location
China
Sorry, maybe I should not have quoted that.
It comes from Shakespeare. I believe that Mark Antony said it about a wound in the dead Julius Caesar. What I meant to do was to show that English must not always obey rules to be great. Shakespeare used the superlative degree twice for emphasis.
Something similar happens with the double negative that Beatrice uses in "Much Ado About Nothing" when she says, "Stop his mouth with a kiss and let him not speak neither" (or something like that).
Frank
It is very good and interesting . Thank you very much!
 

Frank Antonson

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Another example might be, "I can't get no satisfaction". Do you think that song would have been better if the lyric had been, "I can't get any satisfaction." or "I can get no satisfaction".
 

Kevin Straw

New member
Joined
Jul 13, 2013
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
Hi, teacher,
"That was the most unkindest cut of all." sounds strange to me. I can't understand it. Why is there "the most" before " unkindest" , the adjective in superlative degree?
Thanks!
All the assassins are extreme in their unkindness, they are all the unkindest of people, but the knife of Caesar's beloved Anthony makes the unkindest cut.
 

Frank Antonson

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Cool! Are you quoting? Or is that original?
 

SlickVic9000

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2011
Member Type
Other
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
(Not a Teacher)

English grammar has evolved since Shakespeare's time. Constructions like "most unkindest" were likely more acceptable then than they are now. Strangely enough, the phrase doesn't bother me when I read it. In fact, it almost sounds natural.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top