When Shakespeare’s Enobarbus said of Cleopatra that “age cannot witherher, nor custom stale her infinite variety,” he was obviouslyexaggerating. So few are the literal uses of “infinite” that almostevery use of it is metaphorical. There is not an infinite number ofpossible positions on a chessboard, nor number of stars in the known universe. Things can be innumerable (inone sense of the word) without being infinite; in other words, thingswhich are beyond the human capacity to count can still be limitedin number. “Infinite” has its uses as a loose synonym for “a very greatmany,” but it is all too often lazily used when one doesn’t want to dothe work to discover the involved. When you aremaking quasi-scientific statements you do a disservice to your reader byimplying infinity when mere billions are involved.
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