Talk:least favorite

least favorite
For the same reasons we don't have or need entries for least happy:, most favorite:, and least preferred:. Equinox ◑ 13:39, 15 June 2011 (UTC)
 * As defined it seems indeed to be least + favorite. I wonder whether its use to mean "most disliked" is a distinct idiomatic sense or an example of litotes or of some general pragmatic phenomenon. DCDuring TALK 14:28, 15 June 2011 (UTC)
 * There isn't a convenient opposite for "favourite", is there? "My most disliked film" sounds awkward. Equinox ◑ 14:32, 15 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Kill it. --Mglovesfun (talk) 15:30, 15 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Not a graceful one that leaps to mind. "Most disfavored" is about 0.5% as common as "least favored"/"least favorite". DCDuring TALK 16:01, 15 June 2011 (UTC)
 * The term least favorite, if read as a SOP, would mean "among the favorites, the least". I don't think that entry means that. A least favorite is not a favorite. Is it? --Daniel 16:15, 15 June 2011 (UTC)
 * One usage example would be "I like all of those flavors, but pistachio is my least favorite.". Another would be "He is one of my least favorite cousins.". In the latter case, the social discouragement of straightforwardly expressing dislike of a person, especially a relative, probably leads this to mean "I dislike him the most of all my cousins.". Is that part of the meaning of "least favorite" or do we ascribe it to pragmatics? The same analysis might apply to "least honest". It seems that its mostly the ready availability of "dishonest" that makes this seem different. DCDuring TALK 17:00, 15 June 2011 (UTC)
 * I disagree. "Least beautiful" doesn't mean "among the beautiful, the least"; it can refer to something downright ugly. That applies to all adjectives I can think of. And surely you wouldn't argue that "the least happy man on Earth" is happy? Equinox ◑ 17:06, 15 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Keep, and create [[most favorite]]. The most beautiful painting in the world is more beautiful than any other painting in the world; but my most favorite painting in the world is not [my] *more favorite than any other painting in the world (with or without the "my"; neither way works). Similarly with least/less/least/*less. —Ruakh TALK 17:49, 15 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Actually, b.g.c. suggests that some people are O.K. with "more favorite"; but gets only one hit, whereas  gets well over a hundred, so clearly there's something special about the latter. "Favorite" strongly prefers superlatives, not comparatives. I suppose [[favorite]] could be used instead, if we do delete this entry. —Ruakh TALK 18:02, 15 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Keep, per Ruakh. Deleting this entry would be my least favorite option. bd2412 T 18:21, 15 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Delete per Ruakh, Equinox. &#x200b;—msh210℠ (talk) 16:54, 16 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Delete. < class="latinx" >Ƿidsiþ 11:08, 18 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Delete, I've never analysed this as an idiom, but always as least followed directly by favorite (or in my case favourite). Mglovesfun (talk) 11:11, 18 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Delete. Analogous to least liked wherein the object is neither liked. DAVilla 19:28, 9 July 2011 (UTC)