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Thread: Winningest?

  1. #1
    Administrator CatInASuit's avatar
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    Default Winningest?

    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.

  2. #2
    my god, he's full of stars... OneCentStamp's avatar
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    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.

  3. #3
    Oliphaunt
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    It's a stupid word spawned by sub-literate sports commentators.

  4. #4
    The Queen Zuul's avatar
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    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.

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    Prehistoric Bitchslapper Sarahfeena's avatar
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    Who's got the highest post count? They are the Melloingest!

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    Content Generator AllWalker's avatar
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    *twitch*
    Something tells me we haven't seen the last of foreshadowing.

  7. #7
    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
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    I disagree, languages change and winningest is a simple construct with an obvious and clear meaning and is probably older then you think.

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    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Sarahfeena View post
    Who's got the highest post count? They are the Melloingest!
    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.
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    Administrator CatInASuit's avatar
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    Should it be "bestest" instead?
    In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.

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    Oliphaunt The Original An Gadaí's avatar
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    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.

  11. #11
    The Queen Zuul's avatar
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    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.

  12. #12
    Oliphaunt Rube E. Tewesday's avatar
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    I'm with Jim, it seems like a perfectly cromulent word to me.

  13. #13
    Administrator CatInASuit's avatar
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    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.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally posted by What Exit? View post
    I disagree, languages change and winningest is a simple construct with an obvious and clear meaning and is probably older then you think.
    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.

  15. #15
    Oliphaunt Rube E. Tewesday's avatar
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    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.

  16. #16
    The Queen Zuul's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by theregoesjb View post
    Quote Originally posted by What Exit? View post
    I disagree, languages change and winningest is a simple construct with an obvious and clear meaning and is probably older then you think.
    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
    Very good points about the word. Thanks for dropping in to make them, theregoesjb!
    So now they are just dirt-covered English people in fur pelts with credit cards.

  17. #17
    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
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    I respectfully disagree about the two suffixes being a problem.


  18. #18
    The Queen Zuul's avatar
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    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.

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    Content Generator AllWalker's avatar
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    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.

  20. #20
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    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

  21. #21
    Administrator CatInASuit's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by theregoesjb View post
    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
    Welcome to the site.

    Did you manage to come to an amicable result?
    In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.

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    Quote Originally posted by What Exit? View post
    I respectfully disagree about the two suffixes being a problem.

    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

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    Quote Originally posted by CatInASuit View post
    Welcome to the site.

    Did you manage to come to an amicable result?
    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.

  24. #24
    Oliphaunt Rube E. Tewesday's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by theregoesjb View post
    Quote Originally posted by CatInASuit View post
    Welcome to the site.

    Did you manage to come to an amicable result?
    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.
    OK, if people don't like it, fine, but how can anybody seriously argue that it's not a word? It's commonly used by native speakers with an understood meaning. What more is needed?
    Last edited by Rube E. Tewesday; 18 Nov 2011 at 09:49 AM.

  25. #25
    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
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    Foolishly should count.
    Care - careful - carefully. The fully portion is actually two suffixes.

    Others
    Willfully
    Carelessly
    Lefthandedly

    Now for another ingly
    Exceedingly
    Amazingly

  26. #26
    The Queen Zuul's avatar
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    Hrm, true. We accept -ingly without any problems.
    So now they are just dirt-covered English people in fur pelts with credit cards.

  27. #27
    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
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    OK, curtesy of a scrabble page:

    Charmingest
    Swingingest
    Cunningest
    Knowingest
    Willingest

  28. #28
    The Queen Zuul's avatar
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    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.

  29. #29
    Oliphaunt
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    Quote Originally posted by What Exit? View post
    OK, curtesy of a scrabble page:

    Charmingest
    Swingingest
    Cunningest
    Knowingest
    Willingest
    If I ever used any of those in an English paper, my teacher would have laughed me out of class.

  30. #30
    The Queen Zuul's avatar
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    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.

  31. #31
    Oliphaunt Rube E. Tewesday's avatar
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    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.

  32. #32
    Administrator CatInASuit's avatar
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    "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.

  33. #33
    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
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    "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.

  34. #34
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    good call on the ing-ly

    Quote Originally posted by Rube E. Tewesday View post
    OK, if people don't like it, fine, but how can anybody seriously argue that it's not a word? It's commonly used by native speakers with an understood meaning. What more is needed?
    yeah at the end of the day i agree, if it is being used as a word then it is a word. (but i will shamelessly have this same discussion next time i hear a friend use 'winningest')

  35. #35
    Administrator CatInASuit's avatar
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    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.

  36. #36
    Oliphaunt Rube E. Tewesday's avatar
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    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.

  37. #37
    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Rube E. Tewesday View post
    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.
    The last part is 100% true. It works well where it is normally seen and heard; the sports pages and sports news.

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