phrases - "You could do worse than [x]"


I can't really tell what someone means when he says "you could do worse than [x]." Live example:



If you are just interested in a simple command line processor which uses MSXML 6 then you could do worse than using a simple JScript application.



Does anyone know what, exactly, he is trying to say? What nuance is he trying to convey?



Answer



This is an example of litotes, which is stating a positive through a negative. It just means that [X] is not bad, that there are many alternatives that are worse.


In the sentence you link to



If you are just interested in a simple command line processor which uses MSXML 6 then you could do worse than using a simple JScript application.



the person who responded is suggesting that using a simple JScript application is a good choice.


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