Gratuitously pluralized attributives [Re: Republican Elephant? (1869)]

[Jonathan Lighter]

The gratuitous pluralization of attributives (Park Dept./ Parks Dept.) has been getting me down for a couple of years.  The "job market" is now more often the "jobs market,"  at least on TV. Can't think of other examples offhand, but have heard a number of them, mostly from TV journalist types.

The "stock market" has yet to be affected.

JL

Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Bapopik at AOL.COM
Subject: Re: Republican Elephant? (1869)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yeah, I clicked "send" and just then noticed "the Central Park."
...
Another thing I've been noticing is "Park Department" and "Parks
Department," but that's difficult to search for on ProQuest.

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com