"the most clutch" (adjectival phrase)

[Laurence Horn]

On Dec 19, 2011, at 3:55 PM, Ron Butters wrote:

> It so rarely appears as a bare noun (except as the object of the preposition "in") that one can scarcely classify it as a full-fledged noun, either, but rather as an adjective like "dead" that does not so easily allow comparative forms.

Well, I'd argue that degrees of clutchness (e.g. hitting .400 vs. .300 in late inning situations with runners on base, successfully kicking 90% vs. 75% of one's field goal attempts in the fourth quarter to tie the game or give your team the lead) are a lot more easily defined than degrees of deadness, "deader than a doornail" notwithstanding.

>
> "How clutch is he as a player?" sounds as good to me as the quoted example.

Exactly as good.  This is precisely the pattern of adjectivistic "fun", except for the synthetic vs. analytic nature of the compared forms:  How fun is it?  It seems fun.  That was the funnest ride.  (Granted, the last of these seems a bit…jejune.)

LH
>
> Sent from my Droid Charge on Verizon 4GLTE
>
> ------Original Message------
> From: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Date: Monday, December 19, 2011 2:06:11 PM GMT-0500
> Subject: Re: [ADS-L] "the most clutch" (adjectival phrase)
>
> On Dec 19, 2011, at 1:33 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>
>> At 12/19/2011 11:05 AM, Ronald Butters wrote:
>>> Is the point that this should have been "clutchest" instead?
>>
>> No.
>> Joel
>>
>
> It's that it's been reanalyzed as an adjective, as the superlative indicates. "How clutch is he?" would do the same.
>
> LH
>>
>>> On Dec 19, 2011, at 11:02 AM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Tom Brady yesterday:  "the most clutch quarterback of his era
>>>> reminded everyone why he's still The One."
>>>>
>>>> Michael Silver's Morning Rush, Yahoo Sports Exclusive.
>>>>
>>> http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ms-silver_morning_rush_tom_brady_tim_tebow_121911
>>>>
>>>> Joel
>>>>
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