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I'm trying to say something like "that's such a cooler design". Is there more valid expression that expresses the same thing? Or is this okay English?
I guess "that design is so much cooler" would work, but it's not as succinct.
I'm trying to say that something is cooler than something else, but without explicitly mentioning that other thing, since it is common knowledge between me and the person I am saying it to. So I don't want to use "that design is cooler than X".
"That's such a cooler design" sounds odd, even in the context you provide. I would go with "that design is so much cooler".
A "cooler" is a styrofoam case for keeping drinks cold on picnics, at the beach, etc.
"Such a cooler" means "A cooler just like that"
Example:
The beer would stay a lot colder if you bought such a cooler.
Saying "That's such a cooler design" does not sound like something a native speaker would say although colloquially you might get away with it if you don't mind sounding like you're a teenager:
Pretending to be gay is, like, *so* five-minutes-ago
It's, like, um, *such* a cooler design, ya know?
The problem is that "such" modifies "cool" in the same way that "-er" does, and they clash a little bit.
I have never heard that sort of sentence construction; it sounds very odd to me. You could certainly say, "that is such a cool design."
If you use "cooler" then you are comparing it to something. You don't necessarily have to say what you are comparing it to in the same sentence, but it should be given in the context.
You could also say, "that is a much cooler design."
I am curious where this sentence is common. As I said, I have never heard it, and I have lived in the North East US and Northern California.
I hear that phrase all of the time and have used it as well. Whether or not it is "proper" depends on your audience.
It is proper English to use with my coworkers. It isn't proper English to use in an interview with a company with collared-shirt employees.
I don't want to sound pedantic, but "Ooh! You have such nicer designs than me!" certainly grates. I'd much rather hear "much nicer", as apparently would most folk in this Wikipedia discussion.
Taking what seems to me to be the same construction pared down, I doubt many people would be happy with "You're such nicer than him!".
I think people accept OP's version because it sounds pretty close to the fully acceptable alternatives much nicer and so much nicer, but it's still "wrong" to my ear.
I don't know of any grammatical rule explicitly saying "such" can't be followed by a comparative, and I'm not big on prescriptive grammar anyway. So if you like it, say it - just not to me, please!
