"Winningest" -- a proper word?

Tue Apr 24 02:04:25 UTC 2007

Regional, perhaps originally.  Nexis (newspapers, magazines, and
newsletters) registers 157 + 5 + 22 = 184 articles in the last month.

Regards,
David

barnhart at highlands.com


American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> writes:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
>Subject:      Re: "Winningest" -- a proper word?
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>
>Just to clarify: I was thinking of the -"ingest" forms when I said
>"regional."
>
>  JL
>
>
>
>Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
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>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: Wilson Gray
>Subject: Re: "Winningest" -- a proper word?
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>
>"Damnedest" is non-standard?! That's the damnedest thing I've ever
>heard! Well, do your damnedest, prescriptivists! :-)
>
>-Wilson
>
>On 4/21/07, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: Jonathan Lighter
>> Subject: Re: "Winningest" -- a proper word?
>>
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>>
>> The superlative suffix "-est" may be affixed to various, perhaps in
>theory all, present-participial adjectives, though usually with minor
>phonetic modification, as "fightin'est," "feudin'est,"
>"dialect-mappin'est," etc.
>>
>> And various past-participial adjectives, as "damnedest," "cussedest,"
>etc.
>>
>> My guess is that the practice is regional in origin.
>>
>> JL
>>
>> Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote: ---------------------- Information from the mail
>header -----------------------
>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: Bapopik at AOL.COM
>> Subject: "Winningest" -- a proper word?
>>
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>>
>> From today's Austin American-Statesman. Any comments?
>> ...
>> ...
>> ...=20
>>
>_http://www.statesman.com/search/content/life/stories/other/04/21/0421greig.=
>> ht
>> ml_=20
>>
>(http://www.statesman.com/search/content/life/stories/other/04/21/0421greig.=
>> html)=20
>> =20
>> Q: Is "winningest" a proper word? I hear it often in sports commentary,
>but=20=
>> =20
>> it always strikes me as a bit off. For example: "John Force is the
>winninges=
>> t =20
>> drag racer of all time." =20
>> =E2=80=94 Michael D. =20
>> A: I agree. "Winningest" is listed as an informal adjective in a few =20
>> dictionaries, including the American Heritage Dictionary of the English
>Lan=
>> guage,=20
>> but I did not find it in the Oxford English Dictionary. =20
>> The scholars at the University of Texas grammar hot line, 475-8372,
>said =20
>> "winningest" is not a good word choice. =20
>> ...
>> ...
>> ...
>> (OED)
>> winning, ppl. a.
>> =20
>> 2. Gaining, or resulting in, victory or superiority in a contest or=20
>> competition; victorious. In U.S. colloq. use also in superlative.
>winning ha=
>> zard: see=20
>> _HAZARD_=20
>>
>(http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/crossref?query_type=3Dfulltext&queryword=3Dwi=
>>
>nningest&first=3D1&max_to_show=3D10&search_spec=3Dfulltext&sort_type=3Dalpha=
>> &search_
>>
>id=3DyCgj-suaWSR-3723&control_no=3D50285956&result_place=3D1&xrefword=3Dhaza=
>> rd&ps=3Dn.)=20
>> n. 7b. winning stroke, a stroke that gains a point in a game, or one
>by=20
>> which the game is won. =20
>> 1592 _SHAKES._ (http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-s2.html#shakes)
>=20
>> Rom. & Jul. III. ii. 12 Learne me how to loose a winning match. 1609
>_HOLL=
>> AND_=20
>> (http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-h3.html#holland) Amm. Marcell.
>290=
>> =20
>> Contemning that Emperour who everie where in civile warre went away on
>the=20
>> winning hand. 1822 _SCOTT_=20
>> (http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-s.html#scott) Nigel Introd.
>Epist.=
>> , I am not displeased to find the game a winning one.=20
>> 1855 Poultry Chron. II. 486 Neither should I have given the first place
>to=
>> =20
>> the winning Dorking cock. 1860 L=C3=96WENTHAL Morphy's Games Chess 56
>The=20=
>> =20
>> winning move. 1884 Marshall's Tennis Cuts 114 In playing against a fine
>pl=
>> ayer, it=20
>> is imperative to go for a winning-stroke whenever there is a fair
>opening.=20
>> 1974 State (Columbia, S. Carolina) 5 Mar. 6-A/7 John Bates, coach of=20
>> Maryland-Eastern Shore, at 26-1 the winningest college basketball team
>in t=
>> he nation.=20
>> 1979 Tucson (Arizona) Citizen 20 Sept. 5D/1 Slota defeated Sarah Cap,
>the=20
>> winningest active greyhound with 113 career victories. 1985 Dirt Bike
>Mar.=
>> =20
>> 23/2 (Advt.), That's the moment you know what the winningest racers and
>mos=
>> t=20
>> satisfied riders know.
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>--
>All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
>come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>-----
>-Sam'l
>Clemens
>------
>The tongue has no bones, yet it breaks bones.
>
>Rumanian proverb
>
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