Almost better?

Off-topic
1

So I have been thinking about the saying “almost better” and it makes no sense. This morning my dad was saying how his truck almost started better than during the summer when its warm. But how is something almost better?

I would imagine the closest it could be to being almost better is to be just the same. Infact the only way it could be almost better is if it were the same because if it was worse than the previous thing then it shouldn’t even qualify for being better in the first place.

So is almost better just an optimists way of saying the same?
Would a pessimist say almost worse?
Does this make people that say the same Nihilists, or would they just say it doesn’t matter?

2

Probably.

3

I think that, in this case at least, ‘better’ must mean completely and totally fixed. Which of course it doesn’t actually mean, but you know.

4

I agree, like ‘my knee’s almost better after that fall i had last month’

5

Uh, I think you’re talking about a whole nother thing there.

Ever notice how people say “whole nother” all the time, but you seldom see it written down? My spell-checker says I’m not spelling it right either, but my spelling skills are almost better than they used to be…

6

OxyMORONS!

(Word play, purely in jest)