I had just recently gotten into this conversation in a class of mine. Long story short, the TA for the class is studying Linguistics and had a rather interesting perspective on the role of grammar in language. I found it intriguing and perhaps controversial so here's kind of how it went down.
"Funner" is a word. It is. A word is an atomic module of language that has an understood meaning. If I were to use it in a sentence: "Spring break sure is funner than being in class." everyone understands the meaning of word. It conveys a specific and distinct meaning.
Far too many people misunderstand grammar completely, and unfortunately most of these people wind up teaching 4th grade English classes. You see, language is a descriptive science, not a prescriptive one. You can teach someone "how most people speak a commonly understood language", but you cannot teach "the way it should or must be done" in some inevitably arbitrary way.
You see, everyone has their own language, or their own dialect to be more precise. There is no single "English Language". Just like there is an enormous difference between speaking Spanish in Mexico as opposed to speaking Spanish in Spain.
Do not be a grammar Nazi! Almost every word we have has been *******ized from some other word in some other language. Virtually all of them come from some idiot mispronouncing some word and it "sticking". That's just how language evolves.
Are there any grammar Nazi's in the house that seem to think otherwise?
This, I agree with.
I myself am a grammar Nazi, but if you reason it like that, I think it's okay to use it.
Like someone once told me that someone else said (yes, I know, sort of roundabout); if you know how to use the English language and you choose to use it incorrectly, that's okay. Something to that effect, anyways. I can't remember who it was that originally said it, though; sorry.
(Now that I'm more awake, and have read through the thread, I'll expand my comments...)
My friend has used the word "funner" in the past, and when I corrected him, he defended it and said it was a word.
That is a case in which you shouldn't be using it. If you say "It's a word because I say it is!" and then go on to Google it or look it up in a dictionary to try and get backup...well, that's just annoying. If you have good reason with backup BEFORE you use the word, then it's a more respectable use.
I still wouldn't condone actually using it, it just sounds too awkward for me to accept it. Unless you've stated a reason like this as a precedent before you say the word, it
does make you sound less intelligent. As people have pointed out, that is an opinion, and as someone who flips out every time the wrong form of "your" is used online (I flip out a lot...) it does sound less intelligent. Of course, this means that my opinion is slightly less reliable. Now, just because someone uses incorrect grammar, will I shun them and think less of them? No, of course not.
