"future-forward" PLUS impossible syntax

[Arnold Zwicky]

On Apr 9, 2012, at 12:39 AM, Wilson Gray wrote:

>
> On Sun, Apr 8, 2012 at 8:17 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> not that good a looking guys
>
> Not that good-looking of guys?;-)

on other occasions, we've noted occurrences of Exceptional Degree Modification with plurals, in three configurations (all non-standard):

Deg Adj a PL (not that handsome a guys)
Deg Adj of a PL (not that handsome of a guys)
Deg Adj of PL (not that handsome of guys)

(where the first two are parallel to the configurations with a count SG: standard "not that handsome a guy", innovative but rapidly becoming standard "not that handsome of a guy")

Jon's example looks like the first type, but with the compound adjective "good-looking" split by the "a".  Wilson's alternative is of the third type, with no split.

split "good-looking" can be found with count SG nouns:

  Probably as good a looking chick [as] you will find on a dating website
http://www.tigerdroppings.com/rant/p/26739952/Probably-as-good-a-looking-chick-you-will-find-on-a-dating-website.aspx

  you would still have to hunt or buy the graphics needed to create as good a looking sales page the the FlexSqueeze Theme allows you to ["the the" is probably an anticipatory error for "as the"]
http://blogigs.com/how-to-create-a-good-looking-sales-page-flexsqueeze-theme-review/

  Garrett Scott (6-foot-4, 296-pound junior) is as good a looking offensive lineman as I've been around here.
http://www.herald-dispatch.com/sports/marshall/x1419396816/Herd-has-room-to-improve-on-O-line

  It as good a looking mouthpiece as you will find anywhere, and it plays even better than it looks !
http://www.euphonium.net/home.php?newsID=130

(i exclude quotations from Mambo Italiano with "good-a" mimicking an Italian accent in English: "Kid you good-a looking but …")

arnold

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