English Vocabulary

Was your latest statement your last one?

User since 2006
Posts: 2715

21 Sept. 2008

Have you heard the latest?

Last thing at night yesterday I got a phone call from Rachid in Islamabad. I'd be the last to complain, he said, but I'd be glad to see the last of this. At last they will kill us to the last soul. Cindy's(*) latest statement was her last one as she uttered it in her last gasp. Anyway she had been used for ages to having the last word. ...

(*) Cindy was Rachid's wife.

This latest call from Rachid leaves me puzzled. My puzzlement will last for long if there isn't some GGuser so kind as to clear this matter up about my yet long lasting latest puzzlement.
Be them thanked in advance.

2 comments

Fugendichter
User since 2008
Posts: 588
21 Sept. 2008

The last time I heard the latest news was last night and it was the last thing I needed, hearing again from people being on their last legs, doing their last gasp.
Last but not least: these news won't left a long-lasting impression on us, so that there will be many last-ditch attempts till the Last Judgement Day to prove that His creation seems to be beyond the pale. (In German: das Allerletzte!)
Gwendo, at least second to last.
The last time I heard the latest news was last night and it was the last thing I needed, hearing again from people being on their last legs, doing their last gasp. Last but not least: these news won't left a long-lasting impression on us, so that there will be many last-ditch attempts till the Last Judgement Day to prove that His creation seems to be beyond the pale. (In German: das Allerletzte!) Gwendo, at least second to last.
AhQ ['a: kiu]
User since 2006
Posts: 2715
22 Sept. 2008

I've been really flabbergasted by the high-standard literary writing of Gwendo, the second to none benevolent helper.
Now I feel having been beyond the pale with comparing last and latest. Yes indeed, apart from some letters those words share, they don't have much in common. Latest, superlative of late, opposite of early, falls within the field of time. Whereas last, sort of opposite of first, predicates ranking.
I confess meine allerletze Frage was irrelevant but it had at least the good point of arousing a good piece of English writing.
I've been really flabbergasted by the high-standard literary writing of Gwendo, the second to none benevolent helper. Now I feel having been beyond the pale with comparing last and latest. Yes indeed, apart from some letters those words share, they don't have much in common. Latest, superlative of late, opposite of early, falls within the field of time. Whereas last, sort of opposite of first, predicates ranking. I confess meine allerletze Frage was irrelevant but it had at least the good point of arousing a good piece of English writing.

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