Expert: Ted Nesbitt - 5/12/2004

Question
A friend made a post on a message board saying that someone was "Stupider" than someone else... and reading it, I thought the proper way to express that would be to use "More stupid".

Apparently "Stupider" is a word according to dictionary.com, but is "more stupid" also correct?

Thanks for your time & help!

-Eric AiXeLsyD
eric@aixelsyd.com

Answer
Eric:

Ther are many words in the dictionary that I would avoid.  "Stupider" is one of them.  Just pronouncing it is awkward.

You, however, are RIGHT on target.  The preferred way of expressing this idea is "more stupid."

"The Heath Handbook" has a list of the preferred comparative and superlative forms of adjectives and adverbs.  The handbook's rule of thumb is that, if a word is one syllable, use "er" and "est," as in "tall, taller, and tallest."

But . . . "Many adjectives of two syllables and all longer adjectives form the comparative and superlative by adding "more" and "most."

Examples:  alert     more alert     most alert
    ambitious     more ambitious     most ambitious

I suppose your friend would choose "alerter" and "alertest," but he would be in a "peculiar" minority.

Have him try to pronounce "ambitiouser" and "ambitiousest."

You are permitted to chuckle as he struggles.

Ted Nesbitt