Examples:
She is the cutest girl in the class.
He is the worst behaved student in the class.
The word superlative itself can be used as an adjective meaning highest in quality. Superlative has basically the same meaning as excellent, magnificent, wonderful, glorious, marvelous, outstanding, remarkable, unparalleled and unrivaled.
For example, bodybuilder Mike Mentzer was known for his superlative physique. In 1978, Mentzer won the Mr. Universe contest in Acapulco, Mexico with the first and only perfect 300 score. Best in the universe! The perfect man!
However, some people believe that the level of dominance displayed by six-time Mr. Olympia Arnold Schwarzenegger transcended any superlative or official title.
Being indescribably great is a rare honor I would imagine.
The singer James Brown might have been in that category.
One of James Brown's sobriquets was "The Hardest Working Man in Show Business." That may seem like quite a boast but I think he proved he deserved that nickname. He didn't just work hard or harder. He worked the hardest.
As a society we seem to be enamored with superlatives. We enjoy People magazine's annual feature "Sexiest Man Alive". Some men's magazines have annual features like "Sexiest Woman Alive" and "!00 Sexiest Women". We want to know who the most intriguing and beautiful people are. We want to know who the richest and most powerful people are.
Who are America's wealthiest celebrities? Who are the world's highest paid actors and actresses? I want to know!
We look forward to finding out who will win Best Actor and Best Actress at the Academy Awards each year. We want to know who is the best dressed on the red carpet.
Who was the best entertainer ever? Frank Sinatra? James Brown? Michael Jackson? Madonna?
The Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus once billed itself as The Greatest Show on Earth.
I was once the 112-pound Upper Iowa Conference wrestling champion. I know that's not a very impressive title but it meant I was the BEST in that weight class on that day. I wasn't just good or better. I was the best.
People are always arguing over who deserves the title of the Greatest American Amateur Wrestler Of All Time.
John Smith is arguably the greatest amateur wrestler in the history of the sport winning two Olympic gold medals and four world titles. On the other hand, Dan Gable has been the most recognizable name and face of wrestling for nearly 50 years. He's had success at every level including winning an Olympic gold medal in 1972 without giving up a single point. Both Smith and Gable went on to become highly successful collegiate coaches.
There will always be discussions about the best athletes in football, basketball, baseball, boxing, and hockey just to name a few.
Scholars don't just want to be good. They want to be valedictorian. They want to graduate with honors. They want to be the best.
Teenagers don't just want to be popular. They want to be the most popular. They want to be the coolest. They want to be the best looking. No one wants to be mediocre.
Some schools give out end-of-the-year superlative awards like Best Dressed or Best Laugh. Sometimes superlatives are attached to pictures in yearbooks like Most Likely to Succeed.
When I was a senior in high school, the school news staff asked each senior to fill out a survey which involved choosing classmates we believed fit into certain categories like Most School Spirit, Best Dressed, etc.
Some categories were typical like Most Likely To Succeed. Other categories were humorous like Best Skip-Out. Some categories seemed a bit odd like Nicest Legs and Biggest Feet. But, there wasn't anything too scandalous like Nicest Ass, Biggest Dick, or Best Lay.
One of my teammates on the wrestling team was voted Best Dressed Male. He's the same guy who was named a semi-finalist in Teen Magazine's Dream Guy Contest. The Best Dressed Female went on to become a flight attendant and world traveler.
The Smartest Male went on to become a professor of computer science while the Smartest Female became a veterinarian.
One of my male friends was voted Best Partier. He may have found it a challenge to explain that to his parents. The female voted Best Partier was a cute girl who was actually my date for the Homecoming Dance that fall. I'm not sure why she agreed to go with a quiet, boring guy like me.
Some other categories were:
Most Likely To Succeed
Best Attendance
Most School Spirit
Most Artistic
Most Musically Inclined
Most Popular
Friendliest Senior
Best Personality
Best Couple
Best Mannered
Best Looking
Nicest Smile
Nicest Eyes
There was nothing too mean-spirited like Most Likely To End Up In Prison or Most Likely To Show Up Drunk To Our High School Reunion. The meanest category was perhaps Dumbest Blonde, Brunette, or Redhead. And, even that category was just for laughs.
So, what was my class superlative? I was voted Biggest Flirt and Most Likely To Steal Your Girlfriend. Just kidding! Actually, I didn't receive any superlative at all. I got jack squat. I didn't even get something nice like Most Dependable or something cool like Most Unique.
If there would have been a Most Quiet category, I undoubtedly would have won that which would have pissed me off to no end. Who wants to be remembered as the most quiet person in the class? No thank you!
John Paul DeJoria, best known as a co-founder of the Paul Mitchell line of hair products, was voted Least Likely To Succeed by his high school peers. And, a business teacher told him he "would never amount to anything." He became a billionaire. I wonder if he ever went to a high school reunion and told his classmates to go f*ck themselves? No. He's probably too classy to do something like that.
I'm not bitter about not being christened with some impressive superlative by my classmates. Perhaps superlatives are a bit silly anyway. How necessary are some of these superlatives? It's not like being voted Best Looking is really an achievement. How subjective and superficial are we? Can we, as a grade, democratically decide who has the most appealing facial features? If this tradition of class superlatives remains, shouldn't it be more than a popularity contest?
Anyway, I received some superlatives elsewhere that meant more to me. When I was a freshman in high school, I had a bit of a crush on one of the senior girls. She was aware of this crush and gave me one of her senior pictures. On the back of the picture she wrote, "To the sweetest freshman in the entire school."
When I was a junior, my teammates on the wrestling team voted me the Most Dedicated Wrestler. When I was a senior, I was voted Most Valuable Wrestler.
While in college a member of the wrestling team told me he thought I was the nicest guy on the entire campus.
As I recall, my brother-in-law said I was the most mellow guy he'd ever met.
I've heard that from some coworkers as well. Some of them have said I am the most mellow and most "chill" guy they've ever met. A few times I had a coworker call me "the goat." I finally realized he meant G.O.A.T. He was saying I was the "greatest of all time."
I don't actually feel mellow. Most of the time I feel anxious and depressed. Sometimes I think I am the Biggest Failure and the Most Worthless Person on Earth.
Superlatives will always be around. If you pay attention, you'll see them everywhere.
I recently saw a man wearing a t-shirt that read Best. Dad. Ever. I also saw a coffee cup that read World's Greatest Grandpa.
I'm sure you all have people in your life who make you feel special as well. Your spouse probably tells you that you're the most attractive and most compassionate person they know. Your children tell you that you're the best parent. Your friends tell you that you're the best friend.
We love superlatives.
Who's the fastest runner?
What mountain has the highest peak?
What is the tallest building?
Remember the Evil Queen in the story of Snow White?
"Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" she asked the mirror.
She wasn't content just to be fair or fairer. She wanted to be fairest of them all.
But it's okay to be average. You may not be the best at something but you're probably not the worst. You may not possess the most of a certain quality but that's okay too. You may not be the best employee but you do your job well. I may not be the sexiest man on Earth but I'm reasonably attractive.
Sometimes we're just average in life. And, that's okay.
