[Ads-l] Curious OED Entry for "Styling"

[Shapiro, Fred]

Before I posted, I thought about whether "styling" in the OED "Additional Sense" was an attributive noun.  But if you look at the OED citations for that sense, you will see that in two of the cites "styling" is modified by "very" or "so".  I think that, in the OED definition and at least four of the five citations, "styling" reads adjectively rather than attributively.

Fred Shapiro

________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Dennis During <00001bcaf94bd005-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Monday, June 29, 2026 4:21 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Curious OED Entry for "Styling"

Are they referring to attributive use of the noun? "Styling" isnt a true
adjective, eg, not readily modified by 'too' or 'very'.

Dennis C. During

On Mon, Jun 29, 2026, 11:37 Shapiro, Fred <
00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> There is something that strikes me as curious about the OED entry for
> "styling, noun."  There is an "Additional Sense" meaning "fashionable or
> stylish."  Isn't this an adjective rather than a noun?  All of the
> citations use the word as an adjective.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
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