Understate or overstate?

Merlin5 · 21 Jul 2020 at 13:30

Just watching the news on BBC. They were showing Jack Charlton's hearse being slowly driven through his hometown with thousands of people lining the streets. The reporter said "it's hard to understate just how popular he was".

Wouldn't it be "it's hard to overstate.."?

Greebo · 21 Jul 2020 at 13:36

Either or nowadays is acceptable .

LeMson · 21 Jul 2020 at 13:56

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/understate

dl8860 · 21 Jul 2020 at 14:06

You're right but it's hard to see why this was worth making a thread over

GravyMonster · 21 Jul 2020 at 14:14

Wombling free...

Merlin5 · 21 Jul 2020 at 14:42

dl8860 said:
You're right but it's hard to see why this was worth making a thread over

I did it so that you could have a moan and clearly your disdain for this thread cannot be overstated.

Efour · 21 Jul 2020 at 20:48

Don't understate this threads worthiness. I found it particularly cromulent.

ianh · 22 Jul 2020 at 00:51

I would overstate this threads worthiness if I were being ebullient. However being comparably imperturbable I would neither understate nor overstate the worthiness, merely state it.

Merlin5 · 22 Jul 2020 at 00:53

The two posts above mine are really impressive and that's an understatement!