In praise of linguistic innovation and correct plurals

[Francoise Rosset]

> 
> P.S. I am old enough to remember the days when Rugby Union 
>commentators routinely referred to 'lines-out'; now only 'line-outs' 
>is heard, and while someone is sure to leap in to prove me wrong,  I 
>suspect that the only surviving English compound noun that adds the 
>plural ending to the first part is 'procurator(s) fiscal'.


Take heart, there are some surviving fossils:

I have never heard of run-batted-ins in baseball, always the correct 
RUNS-batted-in. Granted, it's a three-word expression and doesn't 
exactly flow smoothly. Which may explain why the preferred locution is 
ribbies, a sounding out of RBIs, where the plural S does appear, 
conveniently, at the end of the acronym.

There's also Attorneys General, which was also used correctly at least 
a few times in US newscasts, regarding the recent flurry of activity 
by state AGs who are suing the Federal government over "Obama-care," 
 ostensibly on behalf of their states. However, references to AGs are 
usually to the local one and hence singular.

Finally, I think, while we say "in-laws," we can safely expect the 
survival of mothers-in-law, sons-in-law, etc. (or am I wrong here?)

It's been a really useful and informative discussion!
Lots for the students to mull over,
-FR


Francoise Rosset, Associate Professor
Chair, Russian and Russian Studies
Coordinator, German and Russian
Wheaton College
Norton, Massachusetts 02766
Office: (508) 285-3696
FAX:   (508) 286-3640

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