The Latin word melior came to Spanish as better . The concept is used to refer to what is superior to another element of the same class or condition.
For example: “This product is better since it offers greater performance than the other,” “In my opinion , Lionel Messi is a better player than Cristiano Ronaldo,” “Specialized journalists agreed that the new album is the best album.” of the singer throughout his career.”
Take the case of two detergents used to wash dishes. Detergent A has a price of 20 pesos and can wash twenty dishes with 100 cubic centimeters . Detergent B , on the other hand, costs 35 pesos and washes only twelve dishes with 100 cubic centimeters . It can be said, in this framework, that detergent A is better than detergent B since it has more convenient characteristics.
Preferred can also be mentioned as better: “Let's go first to buy vegetables and then go to the butcher shop, since the grocery store closes earlier,” “It's better not to talk about politics at family gatherings,” “I was thinking of going to the bank tomorrow .” "But I better go today so I can complete the process as soon as possible."
In the field of sports and art , it is common for awards to be given to those considered the best in their discipline. In the NBA , to cite one case, each season the Best Quintet is chosen: this ideal team is formed with the five best players of the year, one for each position. The Oscar Award , meanwhile, is awarded by the United States Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize Best Film , Best Director , Best Actress and Best Actor , among others.
First of all, we must clarify that this term can be used with two different characters: comparative or superlative . When we have two or more objects and we want to indicate which of them we prefer, saying that it is "better than the others" indicates that there may still be one that surpasses it, but that perhaps we have not found it so far or that for various reasons we are not interested. interested and we decided to keep this one.
The concept of superlative is defined as an adjective that indicates "the highest degree of the quality expressed." Therefore, if we use the word "best" with this character, the noun that we qualify with it is insurmountable , we do not conceive the existence of one that is above it. Although in both cases the assessment is usually subjective , it can also result from a more or less exact measurement.
When we evaluate two options and choose one of them, we usually say that "it is the best of the two", in addition to justifying our decision, since it arises from a comparison of their properties. Let's look at some examples: «Although both computers are very good, this one is better because it has more RAM and a more modern graphics card» , «Erica has proven to be the best candidate for this position, since she has obtained perfect scores in all the tests and surpasses his peers in intuition, technical knowledge and predisposition .
If, on the other hand, we give a superlative meaning to the term, generally there is a great subjective burden that ignores technical issues: "I'm not going to discuss it, she is the best singer in the world and always will be," "You are "the best friend I could ever have." This does not mean that the sender does not feel his words, but that there are probably better alternatives, even if his feelings do not contemplate them; In a world where only exact values mattered, we could find a better singer by comparing her skills and the quality of her tone with everyone on the planet, and the same would happen with your friend.