Diamond Enthusiast

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So... if I order an 'extra small coffee', should I get a tiny coffee, a big coffee, or one more coffee than I need?
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Diamond Enthusiast

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| Posts: 3826 | Location: Olympia, WA, USA | Registered: 06-04-02 |    |
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quote: Originally posted by kittypal: Extraordinary....hmmmmmmmmm, why if it's EXTRA ordinary wouldn't it be even more ordinary than just ordinary? 
To strike a pedantic note, in Latin the prefix "extra" means "out of", as in extra-terrestrial, (from) out of the earth. So extraordinary means out of the ordinary. The meaning you are using came from the meaning of out of the normal quantity - a crate plus one extra, a bakers dozen plus one ectra. From that, people made it into an intensifier - extra small is out of the normal run of smallness. So, as yopu say, in extraordinary, it has almost turned full circle.
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| Posts: 18 | Location: Newbury, England | Registered: 06-03-02 |    |
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