"all the faster" (in Latin too)

[Jonathan Lighter]

*All* of Chris's exx. strike me as bizarre !  SOTA !  SOTA !

JL

Chris Waigl <cwaigl at FREE.FR> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Chris Waigl
Subject: Re: "all the faster" (in Latin too)
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Arnold M. Zwicky wrote:

>i think this is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for
>occurrence in this construction. that is, the maximum category is
>unmarked As denoting the positive quantitative scalar element, and
>there might be people who have the construction for all such As. but
>i'm not such a person. things like "is that all the clearer you can
>write?" and "is that all the clearer the weather gets around here?"
>and many others are all odd for me. my guess is that the best As for
>this construction are those that are "semantically central" -- if
>your language has any As at all, they will denote such properties
>(cue reference to dixon) -- and "everyday" (frequent, not technical
>or otherwise registrally/stylistically restricted, etc.). there's a
>nice little research project for someone here, i think.
>
>arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu)
>

There's also "all the more NOUN", including one example from Mencken.
Here are a few more. (I have copied them over, for the links, to an
online wiki here:
http://palimpsest.lascribe.net/linglinks:all_the_comparative).


"All the ADJ/ADV-COMP" -- equiv "the ADJ/ADV-SUP" or "as ADJ/ADV-POS as"
(or not)

* If the above is all the more clearly you can express the idea, I doubt
it has congealed any more effectively in your mind. sci.space.shuttle
* If that’s all the harder you can look, you’re not the prospector I
thought you were. alt.mining.recreational
* Next thing I know the band stops… 10pm-ish. […] The waitress said that
is all the later they ever play; is that true? midwestboatparty.com forum
* ask them if that’s all the harder they can hit, followed with a
mumbled pussy after each hit thereafter rec.sport.fencing
* this is for a golfer that hits 2 greens a round and is within 30 ft
every time. not the question you asked but that’s all the harder i
wanted to think. rec.sport.golf

"All the more NOUN"

* Geez, why even bother to post, if this is all the more info you can
provide? comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
* It gives 1.4X, which is all the more magnification you can get from
such a small lens and still not lose any image quality. rec.video
* Is this all the more life I can expect from a mirror in that location?
autocareforum.com
* Is that all the more sense you got, groovin’ one for that big ape!
Mencken, The American Language, Appendix 1: Specimens of the American
Vulgate, ch. 2: Baseball-American

Special (strange) cases

* The more people, the more non-military, the more you would normally be
at ease at a particular place, is all the more terrified you should be
to go there. rec.arts.disney.parks
* If I try to slide, and I haven’t been sliding in practice, then I
miss. So now I’ve been sliding in practice. If I don’t have to slide, I
don’t. I feel that the slide takes more time. If I can just step into
it, that’s all the earlier I can take the ball. Venus Williams
* If the sheeple are going to stampede, better now then November.
Besides, now that I’ve finished my power conversion, that’s all the
earlier I can sell my portable generator for ten times what I paid.
misc.survivalism
* I don’t think there is anything offensive about having gay couples on
television during family time. Maybe your children would ask questions,
but that’s all the earlier to teach that there are all different kinds
of families. voy.com forum

Chris Waigl

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