Fail as an adjective

[Arnold Zwicky]

On Jul 10, 2009, at 2:12 AM, Lynne Murphy wrote:

> Or is it that 'so' has become an all-purpose intensifier that goes
> with
> nouns as well as adjectives?  See this song lyric, which popped up
> when I
> searched "I'm so loser":
>
> <http://www.lyricstime.com/melody-fall-i-m-so-me-lyrics.html>

   I'm so Jerk I'm so Cadillac I'm so Loser I'm so Maniac
   I'm so Nerd I'm so Brilliant I'm so Wrong and I'm so genius
   I'm so me

"so" is tricky, because it has a number of uses (including GenX "so",
as in "that's so 1980s!").  so i tried another degree modifier,
"too".  small number of hits for "too loser", "too jerk", and "too
fail" (probably others as well, but i didn't try everything):

   Artist's Statement

   ... Here's a filler while yer at it. All the primary villains I can
think of from each OC story. (ey, don't make fun. i love my villains.
xDDD)

   From Top going down left to right:
   Top: Naberius the Fifth (and another guy, but I can't really say
it, so they count as one, ha!) (no, that wing isn't coming out of him.
Srsly, it isn't his. He's too loser to have one)
   http://www.deviantart.com/print/4709728/

   I think now Tiff is suffering to have a real though love choice,
when she realizes how deep Leonard's love is, or Conrad who realizes
he just needs Tiff so much(but he's too jerk in my opinion
   http://forums.keenspot.com/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=43902

   Ike doesnt got a army, he's too fail and as a result he has a bunch
of random people.
   http://www.gamespot.com/wii/rpg/fireemblem/show_msgs.php?topic_id=m-1-46107262&pid=932999

   *gasp* oh wait it's a dream... he's too fail to do that...
   http://forum.onemanga.com/showthread.php?p=1399386

.....

there are two possibilities.  one is that some degree modifiers (like
"so" and "that") have extended their range of use, to occur with nouns
as well as adjectives.  such uses could be playful and ostentatious,
essentially one-shot creations.  or the extension could be more
general.  (yes, the line is not sharp.)

the other possibility is that some nouns (like "loser" and "jerk")
have developed adjective uses.  again, these uses could be playful and
creative, or they could be more general.  for "fail", presumably we
get from verb to noun and then to adjective.

the two accounts make somewhat different predictions.  the first
predicts that the degree modifiers will be available to modify nouns
in general (or at least nouns with appropriate semantics).  the second
predicts that the adjing (conversion to adjective) will work noun by
noun.  my impression is that the second is what's going on, but it
would take some work to distinguish the alternatives.

arnold

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