Enjoyabler and Enjoyablerest

I have a pet peeve.  Okay, that's not exactly accurate.  I have a lot of pet peeves.  This post is about on in particular, let's call it the, "funnest" pet peeve.

Many years ago I was teaching a class at IBM with two of my colleagues.  They both had masters degrees from Princeton in physics.  They were both interesting to talk to and sometimes formidable to keep up with.  If you've watched the show, The Big Bang Theory and seen some of the fun games Sheldon likes to play, then you'll get an idea.   But they were fun to be around and we worked hard together.

As we were walking into the classroom one day—why is it I can always remember exactly where something happened but not what the person looked like—I said something and used the word, "funnest" in the sentence.

Ben told me that wasn't a word.  What?  No.  I don't believe it.  But he was right, both funner and funnest aren't correct.  The -er and -est suffixes work in most cases, but there are exceptions.  Ben also told me it was always correct to say something was "more X" or was "the most X" so when in doubt, take the safe route.

This past week I heard my friend correct her daughter when she used the word "funnest."  I had felt like I'd found a comrade in words.  We talked about how both funner and funnest were becoming accepted lately and how we preferred the correct way.

I wonder if "enjoyabler" and "enjoyablerest" will become accepted sometime in the future?  I hear from my friend that "ginormous" is now in some dictionaries.  Unexpectedly, even the inflexible spell check tool used in the browser I'm typing in now didn't balk at ginormous.

Language is an evolving thing, even for those who want it to stand still.

The Big Boy Update:  Coffee and Pee.  He was a barrage of words this morning at breakfast.  He was naming things left and right and when I picked up my coffee mug he said, "coffee" quite clearly.  He's never tried the word before and I had no idea he knew what my coffee cup had in it.  Maybe momma should drink less coffee.  Also, pee in the potty.  Just a bit ago.  Was it a mistake?  Was he finally tired of wetting through his underpants?  Was it a fluke?  Check back soon for more updates.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Here, take this.  She has a new strategy with her brother.  If she likes something, he comes and takes it from her.  If he wants to own all the doohickey toys, she can't have any, even though they're piled all around on the floor.  So her new strategy is to pick them up one at a time and hand them to him.  It works well because he gets tired of taking all the proffered doohickeys and goes off to play elsewhere.

Fitness Update:  Hoping to run tomorrow.  Also, it's weigh-in Monday.  I had a week of food and drink excess at Disney.  Did I mention the food and wine festival that was there the whole time?  I fear the scale.

Someone Once Said:  She has a whim of steel.