To say the least/ That's the least you could say. Same meaning?

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hi everyone,

Read the following situations, then please be so kind as to answer my questions about it.

A man and a woman had been invited by their friends for dinner. When they drive home, they start a conversation:

M: I think dinner was tasteless.
W: Well, that’s the least you could say; I even got the impression they were sorry they’d invited us. Is ‘the least you could say’ correctly used here?

Another situation between two people:

A: I want to apologize to you, because I was very impolite to you.
B: Well, madam, that’s the least you could say. Is ‘the least…’ correctly used here?

And then one more question: My auditory perception of English is not a 100 per cent the same as that of a native speaker. Is this a natural and correct construction?

(also was the Past Perfect used correctly in the second sentence?)

Thanks
Alexandro

2

W: Well, that’s the least you could say; I even got the impression they were sorry they’d invited us. Is ‘the least you could say’ correctly used here? [color=green]No

Dinner was awful to say the least. Is ‘to say the least’ correctly used here? [color=green]Yes

Another situation between two people:

A: I want to apologize to you, because I was very impolite to you.
B: Well, madam, that’s the least you could say. Is ‘the least…’ correctly used here? [color=green]It’s possible, though there are better responses.

And then one more question: My auditory perception of English is not a 100 per cent the same as that of a native speaker. Is this a natural and correct construction?
[color=green]My auditory perception of English speech is not the samer as that of a native speaker.
My auditory perception of English speech is not 100% accurate.

3

Thanks BN

I do so wish to have a little more information:

You can say for example and I hope I’m correct now: ‘Since your house burnt down, the least I could to help is to lend you this money.’

Also could you give me one example of a better response to: 'Well, madam…

By the way I’ve noticed some problems with the forum. Sometimes, when I’m already logged in, I have to log in again in order to post the reply. It usually happens when I post a quick reply. When I posted my previous message I was even redirected to a page saying ‘Gateway wrong.’ Have you had any complaints about that from other members?

Thanks
Alexandro

4

That’s not quite correct. You could say:
Since your house burnt down, the least I could do to help is lend you this money.

A: I want to apologize to you, because I was very impolite to you.
B: Well, madam, I should think so.

Everyone is having the same problems with the website.