I was interested in the phrase, “We had a terrible breakup, like horrific,” appearing in New York Times’ (September 26) theater review, titled “Old Friends Whose Past Is Always Present,” which comments on the Debate Society’s shows. It goes:
“I won’t tell that story,” he responded. Their director, Oliver
Butler, 34 — sitting across from Ms. Bos at a table on the roof of the
Bushwick Starr, where their new “Blood Play” begins previews on
Wednesday — looked curious, adding quietly that he didn’t know the
story.Then came a dramatic pause.
“We had a terrible breakup, like horrific,” Ms. Bos blurted out.
“Awful,” Mr. Thureen added with alacrity, as if finishing her
sentence.The exchange was like a scene from one of their plays.”
Why does Hannah Bos complement “terrible” breakup with “like horrific”?
What are the differences of nuance and level of “horribleness” among “terrible” “horrific,” and “awful,” which was deliberately added to by Paul Thureen? Are they all the same, and simple or redundant rewording?
Additional but important question, what does “Old friends whose past is always present” mean? Is this phrase the Debate Society’s coinage?
Best Answer
In context, the three different words are just emphasizing each other. I wouldn't call them redundant, though: if you removed any of them, you wouldn't get across the same meaning.
If used separately, I'd say "horrific" is the worst of the bunch. (Certainly, its literal meaning is much worse than something that's just "awful"; but of course, not everyone1 uses such terms literally.) A horrific car accident probably involves pools of blood on the ground.
Second worst would be "terrible". A terrible car accident probably involves much crunching of vehicles, deformed metal all over the place, but if there is blood, it's not prominent.
The least worst2 of the three words is "awful"3. An awful car accident is worse than a fender-bender, certainly, but it might not have involved any injuries - well, except to your insurance premium.
[I'd interpret "Old friends whose past is always present" as something like "Old friends whose history is always on your mind when you're together", e.g. you can't think of Edna without remembering her bad divorce from her husband who also used to be your friend; or here's Bob, who looks amazing after he lost all that weight... 15 years ago; etc.]
1 Read: almost nobody
2 Yeah, yeah, I know, that's terrible.
3 In fact, it used to mean something like "awe-inspiring", but that was a long time ago.