Q

Abstract

Better than average. Commenting on the interesting fact that ‘quality’ has come to mean ‘good quality’, The Dictionary of Diseased English noted that ‘in the commercial world nothing is ever of bad quality, so that the use of the word ‘good’ is unnecessary’. This is as true now as it was then, but year by year ‘quality’ is attached to an increasingly strange variety of nouns. ‘Could you sell quality wine part-time?’ (The Daily Telegraph, 15 June 1982) is fairly straightforward — the wine is presumably not plonk and may even be appelation contrôlée. ‘To bring quality living into your home’ (New Yorker, 5 Oct 1981) presents greater problems. It occurred in an advertisement for furnishing fabrics and the thought that the quality of one’s life is dependent on one’s curtains is an interesting one. A room can certainly be made more pleasant by having some nice new curtains and perhaps fresh covers on the chairs as well, but for this actually to bring ‘quality’ into lives where there was none before is a cause for wonder. But, since advertisements never lie, there the matter must be allowed to rest.