Definition:
The use of both more and the suffix -er to indicate the comparative form of an adjective or adverb. See also: double superlative.
Examples and Observations:
- "Some-a people think I'm more dumber than them because I don't talk so good, but they only know one language and me--I speak-a two."
(Marjorie Bartholomew Paradis, Mr. De Luca's Horse, 1962) - "I was more tireder than ever I'd been in my life, wore down beyond weariness."
(Ron Rash, One Foot in Eden. Macmillan, 2004) - "As was true in earlier times also, a good many instances of double comparisons like more fitter, more better, more fairer, most worst, most stillest, and (probably the best-known example) most unkindest occur in early Modern English. The general rule was that comparison could be made with the ending or with the modifying word or, for emphasis, both."
(Thomas Pyles and John Algeo, The Origins and Development of the English Language. Harcourt, 1982) - "Double comparison is taboo in Standard English except for fun: Your cooking is more tastier than my mother's. I can see more better with my new glasses. These illustrate the classic double comparative, with the periphrastic more or most used to intensify an adjective or adverb already inflected for the comparative or superlative. A belt-and-suspenders usage, this is a once-Standard but now unacceptable construction (like the double negative) that illustrates yet again our penchant for hyperbole. Shakespeare (the most unkindest cut of all) and other Renaissance writers used double comparison to add vigor, enthusiasm, and emphasis, and so do young children and other unwary speakers of Nonstandard English today."
(Kenneth G. Wilson, The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. Columbia Univ. Press, 1993)
Also Known As: double comparison
