Re: I came in late.

Dans un courrier dat=E9 du 24/07/99 21:09:35  , Nik a =E9crit :

> It sounds to me like _ichiban_ is equivalent to _most_, the only
>  difference being that _most_ has no literal meaning, while _ichiban_
>  does.
no.
ichiban is retrospective absolute (ranking).
most is prospective relative, i.e. superlative.

japanese :
here is A and there is B.
now we'll tell what tall is.
A is tall (relative).
and now we rank A first (absolute).

english :
here is tall A and there is tall B.
now we'll tell what is taller.
A is taller (absolute).
and now let's see around us : A is tallest (relative).

Mathias