# Funner than grammar
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funner-than-grammar/156287
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [February 20, 2003, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funner-than-grammar/156287 "2003-02-20T06:58:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 19
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2003, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funner-than-grammar/156287/1 "2003-02-20T06:58:36Z")
What is wrong with the word _funner_? The grammar police jump on you if you use it. But they can’t come up with any grammatical principal against the word.
How is the word _funner_ any different than \*happier, _faster_, or _weirder_?
Or if you want examples of root words that end in the letter _n_, how about _meaner_, _leaner_, or _thinner_.
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### Author:  [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2003, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funner-than-grammar/156287/2 "2003-02-20T07:43:33Z")
Usually one syllable words form the comparative by adding “er.” I assume that by tradition, _fun_ is just an exception.
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2003, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funner-than-grammar/156287/3 "2003-02-20T07:45:51Z")
Thank you, **Zoe** , but you’ve brought us right back to where we started. _Why_ is it an exception?
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### Author:  [@mkl12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mkl12)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2003, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funner-than-grammar/156287/4 "2003-02-20T10:49:53Z")
I think it’s because only adjectives and adverbs have comparative forms, and fun is a noun. Fun is sometimes used as an adjective or adverb, but the grammar police probably doesn’t like that either.
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### Author:  [@jeff\_lebowski\_s\_brother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeff_lebowski_s_brother)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2003, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funner-than-grammar/156287/5 "2003-02-20T11:01:04Z")
Because fun has a comparative and a supurlative,
FUN
MORE FUN
MOST FUN.
Personally, I could care less.
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### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2003, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funner-than-grammar/156287/6 "2003-02-20T11:30:10Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by jeff lebowski’s brother \*
> \*\*Because fun has a comparative and a supurlative,
>
> FUN
> MORE FUN
> MOST FUN.\*\*
But “funner” and “funnest” would also be comparative and a superlative
> [@](#):
>
> \*\*Personally, I could care less. \*\*
You keep on caring, then!
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2003, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funner-than-grammar/156287/7 "2003-02-20T14:47:02Z")
The actual answer: “Fun” is a noun. Nouns don’t have comparatives and superlatives.
Now, an adjective form has cropped up (e.g., “he had a fun time”), but that’s still considered substandard (Why? Because – lots of rules of English are purely arbitrary). And the use of “funner” rarely involved the adjective form (e.g., “We had a funner time.”)
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### Author:  [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2003, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funner-than-grammar/156287/8 "2003-02-20T15:22:49Z")
“Fun” is a noun, and is used as such in phrases such as [“Have a Fun!!”](http://www.monzy.com/intro/boong-ga/brochure.jpg)
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### Author:  [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2003, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funner-than-grammar/156287/9 "2003-02-20T16:52:04Z")
Yes, _fun_ is a noun. However, it is also an adjective **and** a verb.
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### Author:  [@djxiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/djxiii)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2003, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funner-than-grammar/156287/10 "2003-02-20T18:04:21Z")
It’s a matter of evolution. Fun began it’s life journey as a noun and most people tend to cling to the rules that come with that origin. In time it began to be used in an attributive form modifing another noun as an adjective would. As Fun became more comfortable in both Noun and Adjective roles people began to apply grammar rules typically reserved for adjectives to it. Evolution or not, I dislike funner and funnest in usage.
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2003, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funner-than-grammar/156287/11 "2003-02-20T18:43:34Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by djxiii \*
> \*\*It’s a matter of evolution. Fun began it’s life journey as a noun. . . \*\*
It is life?
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### Author:  [@djxiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/djxiii)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2003, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funner-than-grammar/156287/12 "2003-02-20T20:15:58Z")
bah.
Hopefully that didn’t stop you from reading the rest of my otherwise grammatically correct post.
I’ve found that I want to apostrophize everything these days. I’d never have let that slip when I was still in college. I say again, bah.
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### Author:  [@djxiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/djxiii)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2003, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funner-than-grammar/156287/13 "2003-02-20T20:20:21Z")
Although I also missed a comma after a prepositional phrase, so the post wasn’t grammatically correct after all. Drat!
Bob the Angry Flower has a rather nice [Quick Guide to the Apostrophe](http://www.angryflower.com/bobsqu.gif)
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### Author:  [@Rue\_DeDay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rue_DeDay)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2003, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funner-than-grammar/156287/14 "2003-02-20T23:35:12Z")
I got all the way down to **RealityChuck** ’s post before the word “fun” lost all meaning for me. Now it even looks weird.
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### Author:  [@MrO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrO)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2003, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funner-than-grammar/156287/15 "2003-02-21T02:34:26Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by djxiii \*
> **Although I also missed a comma after a prepositional phrase, so the post wasn’t grammatically correct after all. Drat!**
If you really want to continue this nitpicking, “although” is a subordinating conjunction, and subordinates, or renders dependent, whatever clause it introduces. Example: Although we can assume that the above quote is a continuation of the previous post and dependent upon it, it is technically incorrect.
Now I’m sure someone will find a mistake in _this_ post. By the way, I’m just funnin’ ya. 😉
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### Author:  [@BuckleberryFerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuckleberryFerry)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2003, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funner-than-grammar/156287/16 "2003-02-21T02:52:35Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by MrO \*
> \*\*If you really want to continue this nitpicking, “although” is a subordinating conjunction, and subordinates, or renders dependent, whatever clause it introduces. Example: Although we can assume that the above quote is a continuation of the previous post and dependent upon it, it is technically incorrect.
>
> Now I’m sure someone will find a mistake in _this_ post. By the way, I’m just funnin’ ya. 😉 \*\*
Wouldn’t that be “whichever clause,” not “whatever clause?” I’m just trying to piss you off, but if I’m right, that would be exciting, as well.
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### Author:  [@MrO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrO)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2003, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funner-than-grammar/156287/17 "2003-02-21T03:03:42Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by BuckleberryFerry \*
> \*\*Wouldn’t that be “whichever clause,” not “whatever clause?” I’m just trying to piss you off, but if I’m right, that would be exciting, as well. \*\*
Ha! You could be right. I do tend to prefer “whatever,” because “whichever” implies one of a specific group, while “whatever” implies any, but I suspect that either would be okay. Whatever. Or whichever. Either way, I’m not pissed off.🆒
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### Author:  [@tunabreath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tunabreath)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2003, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funner-than-grammar/156287/18 "2003-02-21T03:12:08Z")
silly silly people. Let’s think about this for a moment.
Fun is a nown
fish is a nown
clouns can dress as fish and have fun
Fish = lungless unlucky bastard to byte my hook
fisher = me
fishy = with any luck me
fishiest = I’d like it to be me but likely it’s someone else
fun
funner
funny
funniest.
lets move on now to solving how to make tunas out of tadpoles.
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### Author:  [@BuckleberryFerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuckleberryFerry)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2003, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funner-than-grammar/156287/19 "2003-02-21T03:28:19Z")
::dances::