The best of “worst”

Add comment June 10th, 2008

The natural progression of the opposite of “good” is “bad, worse, worst.”

The expression “from bad to worse” reflects this, but “worst comes to worst” does not. Although this is the traditional phrase, the more logical “worse comes to worst” is gaining popularity, according to “Garner’s Modern American Usage.” I’m all for an increase in logic in the world, but “worst comes to worst” is still Webster’s preference.

Other members of the “worst” family of idioms include “give someone the worst of it,” meaning “to defeat or get the better of someone”; “(in) the worst way,” slang for “very much; greatly”; “make the worst of,” “to be pessimistic about”; and the modifier “worst-case,” as in “worst-case scenario” — and that’s as bad as it can get.