"the most clutch" (adjectival phrase)

[Ben Zimmer]

On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 4:10 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>
>>
>> "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.)

Whatever perceptions of jejunosity that might be blocking the general
acceptance of "funnest" don't seem to present a problem for
"clutchest" (at least in sports journalism), e.g.:

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http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/high_school/basketball/nyc_non_aa_girls_basketball_rankings_kl9zCduMvUdeoab0jetPGL
New York Post, Nov. 28, 2011
Senior guard Madison Gordon is one of the city’s clutchest players and
best shooters.
---
http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/story?id=7302034
ESPN Insider, Dec. 1, 2011
The NFL's clutchest QB
---
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/979076-eli-manning-why-he-is-more-clutch-than-peyton-manning
Bleacher Report, Dec. 12, 2011
When it comes to winning in crunch time, though, Eli might just be one
of the "clutchest" quarterbacks of all time.
---

On the other hand, comparative "clutcher" ("Player A is clutcher than
Player B") is much more sparsely attested. (Note that the headline for
the third article is "Eli Manning: Why He Is More Clutch Than Peyton
Manning.")

--bgz

--
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

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