Use of "good"

16:00 Feb 3, 2010

This question was closed without grading. Reason: Other

English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Other

English term or phrase: Use of "good"

Hi everyone,

First of all, I should make clear that this is an observation and not a plea for help.

I am in the middle of a job and have stopped to ponder why I can comfortably say "the excellent/effective resistance to traction of *product*" (when talking about an adhesive suture strip) but am loathe to use "the good resistance to traction" which just sounds creepy. The source text uses "buena" not "excelente" and so I feel that the superlative is, perhaps, not justified.

I have noticed this before with other phrases where "good" would seem perfectly adequate, but sounds entirely wrong. The same is also true for "bad".

Any thoughts?

patyjs KudoZ activity Questions: 411 (5 open) (7 without valid answers) (42 closed without grading) Answers: 450 Mexico
Local time: 10:50

SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED

5 +7

"good" is fine

Richard McDorman

4 +1

I agree with you - rephrase

Oliver Lawrence

3 +2

"proper" might be an option

Astrid Elke Witte

Answers

3 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +7

use of "good" "good" is fine

Explanation:
There's nothing wrong with "good resistance." That's what the ST says, and that's what it should be in the English TT, in my opinion.

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Note added at 4 mins (2010-02-03 16:05:36 GMT)
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See e.g.,:

Neoprene rubber is a homopolymer of chloroprene. It is more resistant than natural rubber to gasoline, sunlight, ozone and oxidation. It is also flame resistant and will not support combustion. It has good resistance to corrosive action of chemicals, bacterial enzymes, and its water resistance is as good as natural rubber. It has good resistance to heat and does not soften as does natural rubber, but where increased resistance to heat, ozone, weathering, gasoline or oil is required. The temperature range is -40° to +135°C (-40° to 275° F).

http://www.adrubber.com/materials.html

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Note added at 5 mins (2010-02-03 16:06:45 GMT)
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This elastomer is a copolymer of butadiene and acrylonitrile and is used for the majority of conventional fluid sealing application.

Standard colour: black.
good resistance to mineral oil and grease
good resistance to water and radiator fluid

http://www.dichta.com/eng/materials.htm

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Note added at 6 mins (2010-02-03 16:07:49 GMT)
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CHARACTERISTIC PROPERTIES

• Austenitic structure
• Good to very good resistance to uniform corrosion
• Good to exceptionally good resistance to pitting and crevice corrosion
• Very good resistance to various types of stress corrosion cracking
• Good ductility and weldability

http://www.avestapolarit.com/upload/documents/technical/data...

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Note added at 9 mins (2010-02-03 16:10:17 GMT)
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The range includes grades with exceptional temperature resistance, first class dielectric properties, good resistance to tracking, assessed flammability and superb structural strength and toughness.

http://www.bayplastics.co.uk/tufnolglass.htm

NB: "Good," "very good," and "excellent" are three distinct measures/grades of resistance. These descriptors are not interchangeable and definitely do not mean the same thing.

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Note added at 12 mins (2010-02-03 16:13:10 GMT)
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Note to asker: Why not go with "The product's good resistance to..." ?

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Note added at 35 mins (2010-02-03 16:36:07 GMT)
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Note to asker: No, there is no reason why "good/bad" cannot be used with a preceding article (e.g., "The good resistance to wear is unfortunately unable to make up for the product's poor overall performance.").

Richard McDorman
United States
Local time: 12:50
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 16

Notes to answerer

Asker: I agree, good resistance sounds fine, but when it's prefixed by "the" as in my example, it doesn't. Or does it?

Asker: Yes, that's the strategy I usually go with...I just wondered whether there was some reason good/bad don't work when prefixed with "the".

2 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

use of "good" I agree with you - rephrase

Explanation:
I agree with you that "the excellent resistance to traction" sounds fine but "the good resistance to traction" doesn't. I suspect it is to do with the rhythm of the phrase leading the reader to expect an emphatic in the position of the adjective, which "excellent" is but "good" isn't, making it sound strangely underwhelming.
...
I don't believe this is an issue of linguistics or grammatical rules, but the golden rule IMHO is to follow your gut and phrase it a way which "feels" right to you, in which case an alternative such as "the product's resistance to traction is good, and...", or "whilst the product offers good traction resistance..." etc.
...
HTH

Oliver Lawrence
Italy
Local time: 18:50
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 24

7 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

use of "good" "proper" might be an option

Explanation:
I have come across the same problem when translating French into English. The regular way with French seems to be to translate "good" as "proper" in this kind of context.

If you think about it, "proper" does seem to cover the intended meaning of good in this type of case.

Astrid Elke Witte
Germany
Local time: 18:50
Native speaker of:

English

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