----- Original Message -----
From: "Barnett" <barnett@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: Very funny but not very fun?
None of the replies so far seem to have focused on the main issue.
'Fun' is of course basically a noun, and obviously 'funny' is an
adjective, which only sidetracks us. One suggestion points out that
we can say 'it was great fun' just as we can say 'it was a great city',
because 'fun' is a noun. But we don't say 'it was a great fun'.
Another correctly points out that here 'fun' is used as an adjective.
Another correctly says 'fun' is a noun used as an adjective but
unconvincingly adds that 'fun' is used to distinguish it from 'funny'.
I do not believe that mother tongue English speakers would have
such a need; English is very flexible and 'funny' is semantically quite
different.
It seems 'it was fun' is highly idiomatic. The problem seems to be
this: We can say 'it was really fun,' which seems to prove that 'fun'
is an adjective, but we also say 'it was a lot of fun' as we say 'it
was a lot of work', seeming to prove that it is a noun. We also
say 'it was a fun movie', where fun is clearly a noun used as an
adjective. Can we then say 'It was a very fun movie'? If we can
(and I believe modern colloquial usage would accept this) then
'fun' has successfully been promoted to the class of adjective -
and, outside of purist circles, 'It was very fun' takes its place
alongside 'It was very exciting, enjoyable, funny, memorable,
scary, grim, etc.
Shabat Shalom,
Joe Barnett
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