Nouns that look like adjectives (e.g. end in -ic, -ical, etc.)

glennmagusharvey

Such as "dialectic", "sabbatical", etc..

DYRE

Likewise, adjectives or nouns that look like adverbs.  (i.e. "silly," "filly," etc.)

But really you just can't expect much consistency from English.

glennmagusharvey

Sillily, friendlily, uglily.

TheMightyAnonym

Come now, "dialectic" is a kickass word.

BaronGrackle

Really? This really bugs you? Are you a non-native speaker?

GLORIOUSLeader

formationatical

awesomeatic

conpuzzlingicationic

What is wrong, again? 

FrodoGoofballCoTV

Many english language nouns are usable as adjectives, etc. (e.g., "dialectic method" (strictly speaking, the more grammatically corect term is "dialectical method"), "sabbatical funds", etc.), so its not surprising some nouns don't "feel like nouns".

glennmagusharvey

Of course I'm a native speaker; born in U.S. and lived here my entire life!

What I mean is that, especially if you don't know what a word means--and especially for terms and names that are created by metonymy, so that context guessing is harder--it sounds weird.

For example, if I don't know what "dialectic" means, then I'd think it's an adjective.  So that a phrase like "The Epic Dialectic of Tony Kushner" (which appeared on the cover of a recent magazine) makes me wonder "the epic dialectic WHAT?".

^ Yeah, that's the reverse.  In English, nouns are frequently used as "noun modifiers", functioning as adjectives by simple association in a sentence.  So you have nouns becoming adjectives, such as in the phrase "noun modifier".  However, I'm talking about cases where adjectives become nouns.

glennmagusharvey

Here's another example: jargon.  If, let's say, among a circle of friends someone refers disparagingly to certain people who display anxiety issues as "hectics", and this someone says to me, "This guy's a hectic".

So I'll be wondering, a hectic what?

Basically, when you have these adjective-as-noun constructions, you're breaking the normal flow of the language.

Icalasari

This thread is making me go, "Abwuh!?" as in classics it was hammered in that -ic and -ical mean, "Pertaining to a fluid filled sac"