"Winningest" is usually used to describe an overall winning percentage of a coach or team or program, not to describe one game.  So, the "winning" team would be superlative for an individual game, but you couldn't use the same word to describe a program that has more wins than any other program in its district.  Describing it as a "winning" program would not be properly comparative or superlative; thus the invention of the word "winningest," the "one that does the most winning in this area."

Though it might be informal, it is used as a standard and universally accepted term in sports writing/journalism.

J. Hill

From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Paul E. Doniger
Sent: Friday, February 26, 2010 1:53 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Double suffixes

Of course, in an informal setting, this expression might not be seen as too terrible. I wonder, however, if this isn't just an issue of logic: 'Winning' is already a superlative (your team can't win something 'more than the other team won it because they would have lost), so wouldn't 'winningest' be redundant?

I wonder, too, if there are any other -ing adjectives that can be used comparatively. I can't think of any off hand.

Also, I wonder if this is a variation of a construction that we've gotten from British English ("the most + adj + noun").



Paul

"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction" (_Twelfth Night_ 3.4.127-128).


________________________________
From: Scott Lavitt <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Fri, February 26, 2010 12:36:25 PM
Subject: Double suffixes
Recently a high school boy used the word "winningest," as in "the winningest team," which just sounds wrong to me. It's listed as an informal word in Webster's. I was trying to think of a rule why this may not be SAE. First I thought perhaps the double suffix, -ing and -est, but I can think of examples where double suffixes are acceptable. I'm wondering if anyone can shed some light on the matter.

Thank you,

Scott

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/