Insulting is a delicate art

Lori’s English is pretty good but she has a problem with an exam question and seeks a native speaker colleague’s advice.

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Lori: Here’s the question: "She plays [ ] a professional than an amateur." The correct answer is “She plays [more like] a professional than an amateur.” Can you say “She plays [less like] a professional than an amateur”?

Larry: Sounds funny.

Lori: But is it grammatically wrong?

Larry: Guess not, but a native speaker wouldn’t say it.

Lori: Why?

Larry: More likely to modify the amateur, justify it. Like “She plays less like a professional than an out of practice amateur. Praising is easy. “You did well.” Insulting is a delicate art, if I say to someone, “You’re a pig,” I'm being boorish and pulling myself down to the level I perceive them to be at. Saying something like, “Your manners would offend Orwell’s porcine communists,” elevates you to some perch above the person being put down.

Lori: Then we'll have to justify [more like] and disallow [less like] through data from a concordancer?

Larry: Yup. And claim the item is testing competence in insult protocols, not grammar.

Colliding stories

An animated attachment for Ernie and Bert arrives from a friend.

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Bert: He says, “Beware of the lupo, the wolf.”

Ernie: Play it.

Bert: I wonder if he made it himself. Maybe he’s going from filming Sunday mass to making animation videos.

Ernie: Here it comes. Three little pigs. Chased by a big bad wolf. They rush inside, bolt the door, he’s on the roof, they put a pot of boiling water in the fireplace, splash, they clap the lid on, boil it up and rush outside, take the lid off.

Bert: Uh oh. Some presents, a boot, a red hat. It was Santa Claus! They boiled Santa.

Ernie: And look how sad the waiting reindeer look.

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