Hacker News Reader

> "That's quite good" usually means "Very good, I like it!"

This is backwards from the conventional British use of "quite". In American English "quite" is a positive modifier, so that "quite good" is better than "good". In British English, historically, it's a negative modifier so that "quite good" means "not as good as good".

View on HN

Don't know who downvoted this comment but this is correct. Like all matters of speaking, it depends on the tone. Sometimes "quite good" can mean better than good. But the parent is correct that conventionally, unless the tone suggests the opposite, "quite good" means "not as good as good" when an English person says it.

It occured to me yesterday that at least in a now slightly historic version of British English (though one that isn't actually extinct yet), "rather" plays a similar role to the one "quite" does in American English. So "rather good" is better than good, "rather nice" is better than nice" etc.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com