Superlative
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Superlative

 
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Alan OBrien
Guest
Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2004 4:13 am    Post subject: Superlative Reply with quote
"One of the most superlative games ever played..."
Good game! Good game!

--
Work like the ponies in coalmines.
Dance like the teardrop explodes.
Love like you're Frank in Blue Velvet.
Sing as though your little throat would burst.
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John Dean
Guest
Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2004 5:03 am    Post subject: Re: Superlative Reply with quote
Alan OBrien wrote:
Quote:
"One of the most superlative games ever played..."
Good game! Good game!

Hardly a new or startling usage:

1657 Trapp Comm. Ezra v. 8 'God of gods, Lord of lords'- yea He is a
degree above the superlative.

OED has several examples and notes:

" Freq. used allusively. The English periphrastic form is also
frequently used (with the indefinite article), like the inflexional form
in Latin and Greek, in an absolute or intensive sense, to express a very
high degree of the quality or attribute, without definite comparison
with other objects."
--
John Dean
Oxford
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