[Ads-l] badassedness

Neal Whitman nwhitman at AMERITECH.NET
Mon Sep 5 20:08:44 UTC 2016


Possibly of interest: https://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/dictionary/beat-upedness/

The "-ed" seems to have the function of making non-canonical adjectives sound more adjective-like before you add a "-ness" suffix. Right now I'm researching the topic again after reading the word "tongue-in-cheekedness" somewhere. (Yes, "tongue-in-cheekiness" is attested too, but not as much AFAICT.)

Neal

> On Sep 5, 2016, at 3:52 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> Brooke Baldwin on CNN:
> 
> "... has also this sort of theme of badassedness, if that's a new word."
> 
> Four syllables.
> 
> JL
> 
> -- 
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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