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Can I use Crazy addictive for a TV series which I'm being hooked up?

Like: This TV show is not as crazy addictive as that TV show.

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You could be mistaken in the slang usage of crazy. It is generally used adjectivally to a positive/ emphasizing effect, not negatively as in the example. "This TV show is crazy addictive!" would be fine in slang. On the other hand, "not as crazy addictive" contradicts the emphasis. – Kris Feb 10 at 11:50
Highly addictive? Unless you think speaking correct English will give you strange looks from your friends. – Henrik Erlandsson Apr 21 at 16:38

5 Answers

up vote 1 down vote accepted

Grammatically speaking, as others have pointed out, it should be crazily addictive - but the more common expression (in Google Books) is actually...

insanely addictive.

I think younger speakers increasingly use crazy as a general-purpose intensifier equivalent to very, so they don't necessarily see anything ungrammatical in OP's usage. By contrast, you'll very rarely hear anything referred to as ?insane addictive.

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Ah yes, Google Books, that fine resource not yet available in my country. When region coding comes to literature. Let's make it unavailable to all US Immigrants from other countries. You're not being consistent and thorough, Google. – Henrik Erlandsson Apr 21 at 16:41
@Henrik: That's a bummer. Can you maybe get around it by going through a proxy server? (just don't ask me how you do that, 'cos I haven't got a clue! :) – FumbleFingers Apr 21 at 20:41
up vote 2 down vote

Crazily addictive would be the more correct form, adjectives are modified by adverbs, not by other adjectives.

You could use crazy addictive very informally, where it would be interpreted as a deliberate bending of the rules to produce a slangy-sounding phrase. If you aren't confident you know exactly why it's bending the rules though, you're probably better of not using it. The trick is to sound like someone who knows it's not really allowed, but did it anyway, rather than someone who just doesn't know.

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And I wouldn't use it when comparing two shows. It'd be used to say that one particular show is very addictive, i.e., That show is crazy addictive! – Jim Feb 10 at 2:32
@Jim Yeah, but "okay, it's addictive, but it's not crazy addictive like the last season was". – Jon Hanna Feb 10 at 2:36
Yes, that is subtly different than the OP's comparison. – Jim Feb 10 at 2:38
up vote 1 down vote

Crazy, while usually an adjective, can be used as an adverb modifying an adjective in the manner you suggest, as in this example

I bought some crazy good stuff there.

This usage is very colloquial.

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up vote 1 down vote

"Crazy addictive" is fine in the US and used all the time. But it is slang. So if your register is informal, it's fine. However, the best way to express your feeling is by just using the word "addictive". " This TV show is not as addictive as that one."

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up vote 0 down vote

The formal expression for the idea you wish to convey might be intensely attractive or metaphorically extremely seductive.

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