and from the annals of creative morphology...

[Jonathan Lighter]

I have the same feeling.

See, "badder" now has all-important tough-guy overtones, but "worse" just
sounds depressing.

JL


On Sat, May 4, 2013 at 4:16 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      and from the annals of creative morphology...
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Garson's "fivehead" (forehead + 1) below reminded me that I was going to
> ask if anyone else has noticed an uptick in regularized "badder" in
> contexts like the following, a quote (NYT today, p. D2) from a Brooklyn
> Nets player before the game in which they evened the series 3-3 against the
> Chicago Bulls:
>
> "In practice yesterday, we just asked each other who wanted it badder",
> Nets guard Joe Johnson said after Game 6. "We knew we had to execute, and
> we did."
>
> My suspicion (hard to confirm by googling) is that this is more natural in
> cases of wanting/needing something badder (than the opposition or than
> anyone else) than in cases in which "bad" is straightforwardly negative
> ("I'm feeling bad/badly/worse/*badder").  I know "badder" shows up as
> comparative of the positive slang "bad", where "worse" seems less likely--
>
> 1. Esp. Black E.: 'very tough; pugnacious; formidable; hence, formidably
> skilled'
> 2. Esp. Black E.: 'wonderful, deeply satisfying; stunningly attractive or
> stylish; sexy'
> [HDAS I]
>
> --but I hadn't thought about the "X wants/needs Y bad" contexts, which
> aren't really negative either, and where I think both "worse" and "badder"
> seem natural.  Or not totally unnatural.
>
> LH
>
>
> On May 4, 2013, at 3:56 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole wrote:
>
> > Title: 14 Of Our Favorite Celebrity Fiveheads
> > Date: March 26th, 2013
> > Website: starpulse.com
> >
> http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2013/03/26/13_of_our_favorite_celebrity_fiveheads
> >
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > What's a 'fivehead'? Well, you've heard of a forehead, right? So then
> > a fivehead must be a little bit bigger (there are even a few sixheads
> > out there, as we'll point out later).
> > . . .
> > We're not saying these people are unattractive because of their
> > copious craniums, its just all in good fun...
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> > Urban dictionary has several relevant entries: fourhead, 5head,
> > five-head, five head and five-head
> > I did not see these terms at Word Spy. The ADS archive does not seem
> > to have the term
> > I do not search for early instances due to indolence.
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org