[lit-ideas] Comparative shenanigans

One of the list-serves I subscribe to had a running thread called something
like "We are all doomed".  One post re-named the thread "we are even more
doomed", and a response to the thread used the word (?) "doomered" -- as in
"we are even more doomed than once thought".  This grated on me a lot and it
felt to me as though "Doomder" ("we are even more doomder than we knew")
would ease the pain a bit.  I also realized that "we are even more doomed
than ....." works very easily.

So, here's a question -- (pssst JL) --What influences the comparative
construction to either be formed with the "er" suffix or by the "more"
word.  "Alive", "more alive", "aliver"; "sweet, more sweet, sweeter".

"Doomered" would treat "Doom" as a noun, "doomer" as an adjective, and
"doomered" as a comparative adjective.

"Doomder" would treat "doom" as a noun and a straight line to a comparative
adjective, sans including the middle link.

It *looks* as though some adjectives' comparatives (and hence superlatives
also) are formed by the use of an independent word which modifies the
adjective.  Other words, it seems, build the comparative voice into the
native language which is being learned/spoken.

Julie Krueger
Having swum blissfully in the lands of grammar far too long ago.

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