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Carolina · Joined: 25 Jan 2006 Posts: 11 Location: Buenos Aires

I know the word IDIOT is a noun, but can't it also be considered an adjective? in the Merrian-Webster online it is defined as an adjective in use 2, can someone provide me an example or some help.

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/idiot

Main Entry: id�i�ot
Pronunciation: 'i-dE-&t
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French ydiote, from Latin idiota ignorant person, from Greek idiOtEs one in a private station, layman, ignorant person, from idios one's own, private; akin to Latin suus one's own -- more at SUICIDE
1 usually offensive : a person affected with idiocy
2 : a foolish or stupid person
- idiot adjective

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

What an idiotic question.

(Sorry, that's just an example.)

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 5:30 pm Post subject:

Does it need the "ic" suffix to be an adjective? I hear a lot of people use it without.

"My idiot students are cheating on their exams again!"

"Idiot drivers do my head in!"

"The idiot machine has lost my database, again."

And so on.

Justin

PS- It's Friday, and I've just spent the first half of the day in the ministry of idiocy, so pardon me if this makes no sense.

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

It used to be common to describe the non-head noun in a noun phrase as being an adjective.

So you may be told that in 'minority report', 'headstart' , 'idiot wind' & 'idiot boy' the first element is an adjective.

One way of checking up on the validity of this assertion is to see if the word can act as a genuine adjective, and you will find we don't say

*the report is minority
*the start is head
*the wind is idiot
*the boy is idiot

Equally you can check for gradability:

A very minor report

*A very minority report

So it is clear that with regard to the titles of Dylan's song and Wordsworth's poem we are dealing with a compound word consisting of two nouns and not a noun modified by an adjective.

valley_girl · Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 7:30 pm Post subject:

I agree with Stephen Jones.

idiotic students = adjective + noun

idiot students = compound noun

maya.the.bee · Joined: 23 Sep 2005 Posts: 118 Location: Stgo

maybe this is only common stateside, but the tv has been know to be called an idiot box.

gaijinalways · Joined: 29 Nov 2005 Posts: 2279

I prefer boob tube! Razz

dajiang · Joined: 13 May 2004 Posts: 663 Location: Guilin!

Thanks for that Stephen Jones.

Never thought of that.

Dajiang

keepwalking · Joined: 17 Feb 2005 Posts: 194 Location: Peru, at last

Welcome to a new kind of tension
All across the idiot nation

Thank you green day