plurals as first elements of compounds

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

there's a fair amount of literature on english N+N compounds in  which
the first element is plural ("abstracts committee").  today's New York
Times (section D, "Escapes") has one article just packed with examples:
"Finding New Life By Selling the Old" by Anne Glusker, about towns that
have become centers for the sale of antiques; it starts on p. D1 and
continues on p. D3 (with two sidebar stories).  although it does cite
one shop with "antique" as the first element in its name -- the Antique
Depot in Elliccott City, Md. -- *all* the other occurrences of relevant
compounds have "antiques" instead (perhaps to avoid a potential
ambiguity involving the adjective  "antique" 'old').

plenty of occurrences of "antiques store(s)" and "antiques shop(s)",
plus
   "antiques towns"
   "antiques emporiums"
   "antiques buyers"
   "antiques center"
   "antiques dealers"
   "antiques haven"
and even "antiques success story".  remarkably consistent.

i'd find "antique" possible in all of these, maybe even preferable in
some.  and i note that the local phone book has listings for shops
called
  "Antique Arcade"
  "Antique Emporium"
  "Antique Market"
  "Antique Trove"
and none for a shop with a N+N compound name with "Antiques" as the
first element.

arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu)