Worse case scenario

[HopeClearwater]

What happened to people’s ability to use ‘worse’ and ‘worst’ correctly?

It’s ‘worst case scenario’ and ‘the worst thing’. I keep seeing well-educated people writing ‘the worse thing about it is...’ Arghh!

And 'the least worst thing'. NO. 'Worst' is absolute: a thing can't be more or less worst than another thing. It can be less bad.

People also seem to say "if the worse comes to the worst" a lot now. When I was young it was always "if the worst comes to the worst." I suppose neither version really makes sense, but the one I grew up with feels more right to me.

Oddly enough I don't mind "least worst" - again, it doesn't really make sense but it's a phrase that has been around for a long time and I suppose I just assimilated it before I was old enough to think about the grammar.

The term “least worst” is a complete contradiction. It’s bad usage.