1

There was the following passage in a newspaper article, which I failed to take note of the source:

If he (Trump) seems better than expected, either by throwing Clinton off her game or appearing calmer than a wound-up opponent who gives a dense six-point answer to every question, he might achieve something similar to Reagan’s ‘There you go again!

Although I guess “six-point answer” means "full marks, a perfect answer," I’m not certain.

According to www.religionacts.com, 'six-points' stands for the six days of creation, and also represents the six attributes of God: power, wisdom, majesty, love, mercy and justice, but I don’t know how it relates to "six-point answer," or anything else.

What does “six-point answer (question, offense, defense, performance, whatever)" mean?

I’m also interested in the use of the adjective, “dense,“ which seems a bit incongruent to the word, answer, to me. Can I say “It’s a dense answer” colloquially in place of a perfect answer?

Improve this question
7
  • 1
    In that sense, "six point answer" means an answer with six "bullet points". (Ie, the answer is not simple, listing only the one or two main points to be considered.)
    – Hot Licks
    Oct 26, 2016 at 0:28
  • 1
    And "dense" means very complex and detailed.
    – Hot Licks
    Oct 26, 2016 at 0:28
  • @Hot Licks. What are "six bullet points"? What are "bullet points" on earth? OALED at hand doesn't show the word, "bullet points," though it shows "bullet proof.
    – Yoichi Oishi
    Oct 26, 2016 at 2:32
  • 3
    If you edit your answer, you will see, on the "toolbar" above the edit panel, a button with numbers 1/2/3 on it, for a numbered list, and to the right of that a button with three dots on it, for a "bullet list", where "bullet" is the name used for the dot. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullet_(typography)
    – Hot Licks
    Oct 26, 2016 at 11:25
  • Can you give a link to the original so we can see the context (also citation for a quote)?
    – Mitch
    Oct 26, 2016 at 12:29

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
4

@HotLicks is exactly right. A dense six-point answer is an answer that has six points or parts, and dense refers to the answer comprising six parts (as opposed to one or two parts), to the complexity of one or more of the six parts, or to some combination of the two. A dense six-point answer is the opposite of a simple answer, e.g., a yes-or-no answer.

  • Point one
  • Point two
  • Point three
  • Point four
  • Point five
  • Point six
Improve this answer
1
  • 4
    Is it worth adding/clarifying that "a dense six-point answer" isn't idiomatic in any way, and the number "six" was just selected by the author as a biggish number? The OP certainly suspected that the phrase was idiomatic and meant "full marks / perfect".
    – AndyT
    Dec 23, 2016 at 10:46

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.