Dissipation o f meaning has its worst effects w hen the connotation o f a once powerful w ord is virtually forgotten. There are adjectives w hich cannot be qualified. That is another way o f saying that, if something is the very best, there cannot be anything m ore best. The same is true of the w ord equal. In Animal Farm George Orwell mocked totalitarian com m unist propaganda w hen the pigs am ended the slogan All animals are equal by adding the illogical form, but some are m ore equal than others. ideal Here is a case in point. An ideal concept or article is one w hich cannot be im proved upon. There could be no more ideal Christmas gift than a flight on Concorde. The ideal Christmas gift is the perfect or best conceivable Christmas gift, and therefore the concept o f a m ore ideal one is inadmissible. minimal They feel there is everything to gain from keeping a start-up service on the go, however minimal. Just as the m inim um is the least possible am ount, so the w ord m inim al describes the smallest possible quantity. Thus there can be no degrees o f minimality, and the w ords however m inim al do not make sense. If m inim al is kept, how ever m ust go, and vice versa: They feel there is everything to gain from keeping a start-up service on the go, however small. normal A n o rm is an average level qualitatively or quantitatively. Just as a certain level o f achievement or behaviour cannot be described as m ore average than another, so it cannot be described as m ore norm al than another. W hat the w eather forecasters mean w hen they mistakenly promise us m ore norm al temperatures tom orrow is that the temperatures tom orrow will be nearer to the average (or the n o rm ) for the time of year.