I’ve read articles and stories where someone is described as “a naif” but oddly I’ve only seem the use of “naïf” as quoted below in written form I have never heard it used to describe a person when used in everyday speechas quoted below.
I naif /naɪˈif/ /nɑˈif/ (also naïf)
adjective
naive or ingenuous.
noun
a naive or ingenuous person.
that’s not a pronoun.
I think what you’re looking for is “substantive adjective.” It’s not replacing the noun; it’s just that the noun {man; person} is elided.
Edit: and Keaton should be “a young naïve,” rather than “naïf,” shouldn’t she?
Double-edit: checking this in French, “une jeune naïve” brings up a looooot of porn.
Yeah… I realized that a few seconds too late. Check twice, post once.
I never use words that require umlauts or other weird, un-American symbols.
I, on the other hand, add superfluous umläüts where they do not belonß.
Being the dope and all, I have to chime in to say it’s not an umlaut. It’s a diaresis: two dots placed over a vowel which follows another vowel, to indicate they are each pronounced. Naif would be one syllable, naïf has two.
Ah, pronoun trouble!
I’d be a lot more likely use “ingenue” in speech than “naïf”, yes.
I would, too. I can believe how people are butchering the English language.
A propos of the OP’s title: I really thought the thread was going to be about something like the way some people use “dude” as a pronoun. E.g., “A strange guy started talking to me on the subway today. Dude was crazy!”
That’s not a naïf. This is a naïf.