Talk:Alice in Wonderland

Latest comment: 11 years ago by -sche in topic RFV

Sure this is an adjective not a noun used attributively? Fugyoo 02:32, 9 October 2011 (UTC)Reply

It's already listed as one! Equinox 02:47, 9 October 2011 (UTC)Reply

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Apparently an adjective. The citations just seem to use the proper noun attributively. Not any different to "Michael Jackson" in "Michael Jackson voice". Mglovesfun (talk) 10:36, 10 October 2012 (UTC)Reply

Does this prove that it's an adjective or can it still be a noun in that usage? --WikiTiki89 (talk) 11:13, 10 October 2012 (UTC)Reply
I'd tend to say yes, it does support an adjective sense. Mglovesfun (talk) 11:14, 10 October 2012 (UTC)Reply
You have to be careful about the construction "more x than y", where x and y are nouns and one is stating which one the referent resembles most. There do seem to be a couple of true comparatives, though Chuck Entz (talk) 12:33, 10 October 2012 (UTC)Reply
I think in "the construction 'more x than y', where x and y are nouns and one is stating which one the referent resembles most", x and y would be acting like adjectives. There is one thing I do know to be careful about which is noun constructions like "Vodka has more water than ethanol." (which is also a good example of the ambiguity of than), but that construction did not show up at all. --WikiTiki89 (talk) 13:02, 10 October 2012 (UTC)Reply
Are you sure? The ability to add articles, modifiers, etc. makes me think that it's more nouns acting like nouns than nouns acting like adjectives: "He's more an American than a European". "She's more a friend than a lover". "That's more purplish blue than bluish purple" Chuck Entz (talk) 13:46, 10 October 2012 (UTC)Reply
I have three explanations for that:
  1. It is a noun phrase being used adjectivally.
  2. more is modifying is
  3. It's really "more of" but the of is dropped.
--WikiTiki89 (talk) 13:57, 10 October 2012 (UTC)Reply

How about these:

  • 2008, Lisa Margonelli, Oil on the Brain: Petroleum's Long, Strange Trip to Your Tank, p. 68:
    This is all a little more Alice in Wonderland than I had expected.
  • 2008, Gordon Stobart, Testing Times, p. 137:
    What gives this an even more Alice-in-Wonderland feel is that the Average Yearly Progress targets are based on what must be done to achieve this impossible goal...
  • 2002, Alan Stripp, Codebreaker in the Far East, p. 35:
    It became more Alice in Wonderland all the time: was I now to navigate as well?
  • 1984, Great Britain, Parliament, House of Commons, Parliamentary debates: Official report, Volume 75, p. 335:
    Members with a fascination for the horrid to look at the explanatory memorandum, which deals with fresh fruit and vegetables. It discloses the most Alice-in- Wonderland situation ever.

Cheers! bd2412 T 20:57, 26 October 2012 (UTC)Reply

Kept. - -sche (discuss) 18:09, 26 December 2012 (UTC)Reply


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