Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2018 May 20

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May 20

Why is there no "funnest"?

Question by an 8 year-old today: 'If the most big is "biggest", why isn't the most fun "funnest"?' I said it was just an oddity of English, but perhaps there's a more logical answer? Alansplodge (talk) 13:12, 20 May 2018 (UTC)

There's funny, funnier, funniest. But fun by itself has no natural comparatives.[1] The normal usage used to be "that's so much fun!" Nowadays you hear "that's so fun!" which is not really correct. Nor is "funnest", but it's no unheard of. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 14:23, 20 May 2018 (UTC)

Also, "fun" as an adjective is technically an informal colloquialism. Fun was originally just a noun. Ian.thomson (talk) 14:31, 20 May 2018 (UTC)

Also, see http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-fun1.htm , which is linked from the Wiktionary article. Loraof (talk) 17:08, 20 May 2018 (UTC)

As to "not really" and "technically", see prescriptivism. --76.69.47.55 (talk) 19:01, 20 May 2018 (UTC)

See Colloquialism. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 19:32, 20 May 2018 (UTC)

I'm not saying that fun can't be used as an adjective, just that it historically wasn't. That's descriptivism. It'd be prescriptivist to say that the historical roots are wrong because of current opinion. Ian.thomson (talk) 03:23, 21 May 2018 (UTC)

Has he asked about happy and hap? Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 17:37, 20 May 2018 (UTC)

As with the ballplayer Happy Felsch, also known as Hap, who wasn't so happy once he was banned for life due to the Black Sox Scandal. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 19:31, 20 May 2018 (UTC)

No (he was a she actually). Interesting link by Loraof at www.worldwidewords, which says that "funnest" is increasingly being used in informal writing in the US; it's just a child's error over here. Alansplodge (talk) 19:35, 20 May 2018 (UTC)

Happy/Hap Felsch was a he. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 19:37, 20 May 2018 (UTC)

Looks to me like Alansplodge intended one colon less. —Tamfang (talk) 23:05, 20 May 2018 (UTC)

There is a story that Hap Day introduced himself to someone as "Happy Day" and the other person responded "happy day to you too". Adam Bishop (talk) 23:44, 20 May 2018 (UTC)

To me, "funnest" is an acceptable word. (Am I all alone here?) "Funniest" means most humorous, while "funnest" is the most enjoyable. Clarityfiend (talk) 02:08, 21 May 2018 (UTC)

It sounds like a cousin to the old saying, "The hurrier I go, the behinder I get."[2] ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:41, 21 May 2018 (UTC)

Attempting an answer to the original question: the adjective is big, therefore the most extreme example of big is biggest. The adjective (not the noun fun) is funny, therefore the corresponding extremity is funnyest, which has long been written as funniest. The important thing to remember is that only adjectives have superlatives, not nouns. Akld guy (talk) 10:44, 21 May 2018 (UTC)

English being what it is, it seems that fun, funner and funnest have become adjectives. Whether the OED accepts those colloquial usages remains to be seen. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 14:44, 21 May 2018 (UTC)

Don't you find this a fun discussion, Akld guy? --Jayron32 15:30, 21 May 2018 (UTC)

No. Must be the German descent on my mother's side (see section immediately below this one). I took Alansplodge's question on behalf of an 8 year old at its seriousest and gave him my comprehensivest answer. Akld guy (talk) 20:07, 21 May 2018 (UTC)

The OED (Third Edition revision of September 2017) has ten cites for fun as an adjective from 1827 to 2016. It does comment that "Some early attributive uses may be interpreted as instances of the noun used attributively". It has a 1972 cite for funnest and a 1996 cite for funner. Wiktionary reluctantly accepted funner and funnest in 2006 based on the entries in the 2000 edition of American Heritage Dictionary. Dbfirs 16:00, 21 May 2018 (UTC)

So the answer seems to be that "fun" hasn't been in the adjective club for long enough to enjoy full membership rights. I think we can call this an oddity of the English language. Many thanks to all. Alansplodge (talk) 08:54, 23 May 2018 (UTC)

By a strange coincidence, the word funnest came up in the British Channel 4 TV word-game "Countdown" on May 22nd 2018. The comment from OED lexicographer Susie Dent was that the words funner and funnest "should be restricted to very informal contexts". Dbfirs 06:03, 28 May 2018 (UTC)

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