The incredulous Tom Brady

[victor steinbok]

"Incredulous" in the sense "wide-eyed" is quite common--I am making no
judgment on the usage, just noting that it seems to be more common than you
give credit for. "Incredible" would just be wrong here--somehow the 4-year
bench-warmer at Michigan does not strike me as "incredible". The reference
is to the beginning of his career, not to the career as a whole.

VS-)

On Sat, Feb 11, 2012 at 3:57 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

> "The incredulous kid quarterback, who hoisted his first Lombardi
> Trophy 10 years ago, is going to turn 35 in August."
>
> Christopher L. Gasper, on the front page of the Boston Globe Sports
> section today.
>
> Although the OED allows (allowed?) "2.a. Not to be believed; =
> incredible adj.", it calls it "Obs."  I think any writer today should
> prefer "incredible".
>
> Perhaps Gasper meant to contrast Brady with another controversial
> Boston professional athlete, Tim Thomas, who, as a libertarian who
> strongly supports the Catholic Church's position against the
> requirement for Catholic agencies to provide contraceptive coverage
> in their health insurance policies for employees, is very likely not
> in-credulous.
>
> Joel
>

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