Grammar Girl covers the "funnest" iPod ever

I'm a big fan of the Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing daily podcasts -- she does a terrific job, day in and day out, of breaking down major grammar gaffes in a very interesting and clear way. After the big "Let's Rock" event on Tuesday, Grammar Girl had to jump to the rescue on Apple's commercial use of the word "funnest" to describe the iPod touch -- as many language elitists noted, "funnest" isn't quite a real word.

Believe it or not, Grammar Girl is suprisingly forgiving -- she says that fun, while originally a noun ("we had fun"), has made a transition in the last century or so to an "attributive noun" which can be used as an adjective ("we had a fun party"). And while old-timers may flinch at the words "funner" and "funnest", the correct way to modify one-syllable adjectives is in fact by adding "-er" and "-est" to the ends. So technically, "funnest" is grammatically correct, even if it isn't exactly accepted; Grammar Girl calls it "grating and horrifying."

She finishes today's podcast, however, with a scary note for language traditionalists -- it could very well be that Apple's usage of the word is just what "funnest" needs to go over the edge into regular acceptance. Sure, we get that language evolves, but couldn't they just have said it was "the most fun iPod ever?" Or, even more traditionally, "the most fun you'll have with an iPod?"

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Source: http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/is-funnest-a-word.aspx

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Analysis / Opinion Humor iPod Family Cult of Mac Odds and ends Steve Jobs

I'm a big fan of the Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing daily podcasts -- she does a terrific job, day in and day out,...

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Adam

This is what my MOTHER sent apple a day later:

I just saw your new iPod ad and was really quite surprised and disappointed. Apple has always been a supporter of education and certainly sells many computers to educational institutions. When a student clicks onto your website and sees the "funnest" iPod ever, it reinforces poor grammar. While young people are already using the word "funnest", and you are using it in jest, there is no justification to teach what is incorrect. I feel, as an educator with a family of 5 Macs, three iPods and 2 iPhones, that you are undermining what educators are working so very hard to achieve with our impressionable students today. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
*Note: "funnest" comes up as an error on your own spellcheck. Embarrassing? It should be.

September 21 2008 at 12:46 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Alex

Caca pipi dodo.

September 19 2008 at 1:00 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Masseyis

I am amazed that the writers of this blog listen to a grammar podcast! Has she ever covered that most frequent TUAW crime of missing the genitive case from collective nouns? Or the dative for the word write? I cannot tell you how many times I have gnashed my teeth when I read the phrases 'Couple times' or 'Write me' on this blog. I hope she does requests.

September 15 2008 at 5:45 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Joe

this is the goodest article ever.

September 14 2008 at 2:40 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

MacSmiley

You know, here's something interesting.

It takes Microsoft 2 "celebrities", cryptic dialog, and a minute and a half (or even more) to get people talking... and they're not even talking about the product!

All it takes Apple is a word or two.

Funnest... Think different...

That's genius!

September 13 2008 at 4:12 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

MacSmiley

Re: The funnest and Think different

Check out Erin McKean's TED presentation:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/erin_mckean_redefines_the_dictionary.html

September 13 2008 at 4:08 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

iPim

The word "funest" (with 1 n) has a meaning in Dutch: fatal...

September 13 2008 at 3:17 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

I just think Frankenstein's monster, Tarzan, and Tonto are Apple's ad copy writers.

Steve: "How about some ideas, guys?"
Frankesnstein's Monster: "ME THINK DIFFERENT!"
Tonto: "IT FUNNEST iPOD EVER!"
Tarzan: "Tiger! Leopard! Get Cheetah!"
Steve: "Awesome work guys."

September 13 2008 at 10:46 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to CZ's comment

Without meaning to draw any other comparison than that of wordsmithing, Shakespeare himself created between 1,000 and 10,000 new English words--depending on who's doing the counting. Is "funnest" a household word? No, but neither was household word a term, before Shakespeare.
If one considers the English language to be one of the great open source languages of the world, part structure, part magpie, part thief and part evolution, then the introduction of the term funnest is nothing more than a new line of code that may or may not make it past Sunday. But to call it wrong? That's simply silly, demands that we forego experimentation and suggests that a language that's inherently unfixed is fixed. Well good luck with that idea.
Put differently, there's a lot of truthiness in the term funnest.

September 13 2008 at 11:38 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

jkuehn

How do I know the iPod Touch *I* purchase will be the single unit determined "funnest?" What if I purchase a unit that is, though decidedly funner, not the funnest? What if I purchase a depressed unit? Or a psychotic unit? Are all units psychologically tested to ensure they are as much fun as the funnest unit?

September 13 2008 at 9:00 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Ken Broughton

I simply mis-read it, as "funniest", which is a bit of an own-goal by Apple, as I'm primed for disappointment as I expectit to tell jokes, plus it has major negative connotations. Is it funny (I think) in the sense of being stupidly designed? Or is it the oddest in the sense of being difficult to understand? I'm sure I'm not alone in 'seeing' this much more common word instead. Which is a good reason for avoiding the Apple version.

September 13 2008 at 3:55 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply