meaning - Is "Less than perfect" always used in a sarcastic and negative way?


I always use the phrase less than perfect in a sarcastic way, meaning that something is not good at all. For example:



My date was obviously less than perfect. She was late and in a hurry, and she kept talking about her ex-boyfriend.



But I start to wonder if this phrase can be used in a non-sarcastic way, as a parallel to almost perfect. As an example, could it be used in this context?



Enjoy your day to its fullest. If anybody in the office makes your day less than perfect, go and talk to them.




Answer



Seriously, although some have noted that less than perfect can be uttered sans sarcasm (depending on context), I hardly think it ever means a positive thing. Certainly it doesn't mean almost perfect.



Enjoy your day to its fullest. If anybody in the office makes your day less than perfect, go and talk to them.


Enjoy your day to its fullest. If anybody in the office makes your day almost perfect, go and talk to them.



Sentence 1 is saying someone marred the perfection of your day. Sentence 2 is saying someone helped make your day wonderful.


If you really want to use less than perfect to mean almost perfect you have to add a modifier of some kind to the phrase.



Her performance was only slightly less than perfect.



This means it was damn near perfect.



Her performance was less than perfect.



This means it wasn't very good, and the range of her failure is yet to be discussed.


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