Why not just say - "most successful"? "Winningest" sounds like a marketing catchphrase used to make someone feel better about themselves.
Where did this travesty of a word come from?
Why not just say - "most successful"? "Winningest" sounds like a marketing catchphrase used to make someone feel better about themselves.
Where did this travesty of a word come from?
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
Yeah, I don't know. But the word has been around for a decade or two at least, and has bugged me for all that time.
It's a stupid word spawned by sub-literate sports commentators.
We could do this with all sorts of phrases.
Instead of saying, "She has the most range of all our vocalists," you could say, "She's the rangingest!"
Instead of saying, "He has won the most court cases of this type," you could say, "He's the lawyeringest!"
Instead of saying, "Little Dakota is at the top of his class," you could say, "He's the Aingest!"
Okay, it could use some work.
So now they are just dirt-covered English people in fur pelts with credit cards.
Who's got the highest post count? They are the Melloingest!
*twitch*
Something tells me we haven't seen the last of foreshadowing.
I disagree, languages change and winningest is a simple construct with an obvious and clear meaning and is probably older then you think.
Missed the edit window:
I am still slightly ahead of Zuul but technically as I was well ahead of Zuul back on Dumbo, Zuul has the most posts on Mello.
Top 12 posters as found in Member list sorted by posts.
1. What Exit? 8,638
2. Zuul 8,560
3. Oliveloaf 5,764
4. Sarahfeena 5,623
5. OneCentStamp 5,015
6. ivan astikov 4,756
7. CatInASuit 4,413
8. Cluricaun 3,616
9. Orual 3,483
10. jali 3,460
11. featherlou 3,209
12. Elendil's Heir 3,116
Should it be "bestest" instead?
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
How am I not in the Top 12? I've got work to do!
Last edited by The Original An Gadaí; 10 Nov 2011 at 03:44 PM.
I think my biggest problem with the "-ingest" construction is that it's simply very awkward looking. When I look at it, it reads as two words to me: win and ingest.
So now they are just dirt-covered English people in fur pelts with credit cards.
I'm with Jim, it seems like a perfectly cromulent word to me.
Hmm,
happy, happier happiest.
mellow, mellower, mellowest.
winning, winninger, winningest.
Actually, this is the kind of thing Charlie Sheen would say. I am winninger
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
the word has 2 suffixes, "ing" & "est" ... the suffix has a suffix, it practically goes out of its way to be horrible
i agree language is constantly evolving, creating new words and ditching old ones, and i respect the fact that if anyone is using it as a word then it is technically a word.. but come on now
Last edited by theregoesjb; 17 Nov 2011 at 09:17 AM.
Don't have time to make a point about the word right now, but just wanted to say "Welcome, theregoesjb".
Wish I'd done it earlier.
I respectfully disagree about the two suffixes being a problem.
Ah, but "fully" is a suffix (and word) in its own right.
So now they are just dirt-covered English people in fur pelts with credit cards.
Hmm, if I doubled my post count I'd still be nowhere near the top 12.
Hmm, if I doubled my post count I'd still be nowhere near the top 12.
Oops, single post, my bad.
Something tells me we haven't seen the last of foreshadowing.
thanks for the welcome,
i found this site while googling to see if this was a real word... my girlfriend and i were having the same discussion
oooooo touche, although i think i agree with Zuul that since 'fully' is its own word it might not count, then again this could also go back to Zuul pointing out that 'ingest' is a word... : )
either way i must admit I have found myself keeping an eye out for words with two suffixes... seems like the english language must have a few somewhere
well a few of the online dictionaries have it so that may be all it takes to make it "official" but i also saw a lot of people discussing their surprise to find that it is used as a word (similar to this discussion). not to mentin a facebook page dedicated to it not being a word. I forget what source it was but for what it's worth i read on one of those online dictionaries that it was first used in the 60s or 70s.
Foolishly should count.
Care - careful - carefully. The fully portion is actually two suffixes.
Others
Willfully
Carelessly
Lefthandedly
Now for another ingly
Exceedingly
Amazingly
Hrm, true. We accept -ingly without any problems.
So now they are just dirt-covered English people in fur pelts with credit cards.
OK, curtesy of a scrabble page:
Charmingest
Swingingest
Cunningest
Knowingest
Willingest
None of those are in my dictionary, but I'll concede them as commonly used and accepted in casual contexts. I hear "most willing" more often than "willingest", but the -ingest form still isn't that uncommon.
So now they are just dirt-covered English people in fur pelts with credit cards.
It does leave you wondering, what exactly is wrong with "most *blank*ing"? Why, when I was a kid, we used the word "most" and we liked it.
So now they are just dirt-covered English people in fur pelts with credit cards.
Well, I dunno, as with everything, I think context is the key.
"The New York Yankees are the most winning team in the history of Major League Baseball." Term paper.
"The Yankees are the winningest team in MLB history." Sports page.
"The New York Yankees are the most successful team in the history of Major League Baseball." English paper.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
"The NY Yankees are the winningest team of all time" just sound great any way you say it. But CIAS' way looks the best to me. Also, while the Yanks are the most successful team, one of the NL teams may well have more wins. I'm thinking Cards and Giants both do. They had a 20 year head start.
The team with the most wins is not the most successful team. Huh?
Oh wait, this is because your sports have playoffs isn't it? Most wins to get to the playoffs does not mean the team that is successful at the end of the year.
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
Well, it wasn't for truth value, and maybe "term paper" wasn't the best choice of example (maybe "slightly stuff sports page" against "ordinary sports page", but I think my point stands -- each expression "works" in a context. Words can't simply be evaluated as if they existed in some Platonic realm.
"Winningest" has a fine, jaunty ring well suited to casual sports journalism and to sports magazines that have space constraints/pay freelancers by the word.