"Most biggest"

Trimac20   Wed Apr 22, 2009 3:06 pm GMT
I notice people apparently blind to this grammatical error. Not just 'most biggest' but other phrases which use a double absolute (not sure if that's the technical term for it). Like "most biggest", "most ugliest", "least smallest". Obviously, "most big" or "biggest" is correct, the second one being less awkward sounding.

How often do you notice people say this in conversation? I notice it often, sometimes even among the educated (but less so for sure). Definitely in everyday speech. It kind of gets to me.
Skippy   Wed Apr 22, 2009 3:35 pm GMT
I can't think of any time I've ever heard this... It gets to me too.
Island   Wed Apr 22, 2009 3:45 pm GMT
I've never heard 'most biggest' before either.
eeuuian   Wed Apr 22, 2009 3:52 pm GMT
Where do you hear this? -- it sounds like something a young kid might say, or else like some cool slang.

(note: I don't hear it much around here, BTW)
curious   Wed Apr 22, 2009 3:58 pm GMT
most big" is correct? Since when?
tbd   Wed Apr 22, 2009 8:38 pm GMT
as big, bigger, biggest - most biggest is redundant.
Trimac20   Thu Apr 23, 2009 2:20 am GMT
Maybe it's more of an Aussie thing...maybe less so 'most biggest', but like, 'most richest', 'most ugliest', 'most prettiest' i hear that quite a lot here.
non-native grammatical er   Thu Apr 23, 2009 11:20 pm GMT
Besides Australians, I'm pretty positive that "most biggest", "most tallest" and etc are made by non-native speakers of English.
K. T.   Fri Apr 24, 2009 1:27 am GMT
I had a colleague who would say stuff like this. He had a doctorate (not in English, of course.) He was African-American/French/Native American.
K. T.   Fri Apr 24, 2009 1:30 am GMT
He was extremely well-liked at work, and saying "more bigger" didn't keep him from finding work in his field.
let me ammend your sins   Fri Apr 24, 2009 1:48 am GMT
<<He was extremely well-liked at work, and saying "more bigger" didn't keep him from finding work in his field. >>

But he knew it was incorrect, right? But he said it anyway.
K. T.   Fri Apr 24, 2009 2:30 am GMT
I don't know if he knew it was incorrect or not. He wrote it on something official once and we talked about it. He would say things like "more better", but probably not "gooder" unless he was joking.
K. T.   Fri Apr 24, 2009 5:29 am GMT
It may have been "more better" that he used, but that's the kind of progression he used very naturally. I don't know much about American dialects and what grammar is considered acceptable for members of an in-group.

I admit that I am still shocked by the sample Travis shared with us months or a year ago.
Leasnam   Fri Apr 24, 2009 9:06 pm GMT
<<Not just 'most biggest' but other phrases which use a double absolute (not sure if that's the technical term for it)>>

Do you mean a "double superlative"?

It's for effect, when "biggest" just isn't big enough!

English has always utilized this type of feature. It's nothing new. It's very typical and characteristic of the English language.

Love it. Embrace it :)
Guest   Fri Apr 24, 2009 10:18 pm GMT
In Spanish you can hear similar expressions: "más mayor", etc. To me they indicate poorly structured minds.