Vals Kilmer (like "attorneys general"?)

[sagehen]

>For me, it's more like meeting an old friend who's gone tragically insane.
>
>  Since when does "Kilmer" modify "Val" ?  Savvy pluralizers realize it's
>the other way around. Of course nowadays, when anchorclones address
>everybody but heads of state by hizzahur first name, I suppose one could
>get the opposite impression.
>
>  (Sometimes they'll use a title with a given name or hypocoristic form.
>Coming at some point : "So, King Charlie, how does it feel to be on the
>throne ?"  You read it here first.)
>
>  JL
 ~~~~~~~~~~~
"Attorneys  general":  It still strikes me that there is something
cock-eyed about this usage.  Why do we address the holder of this office as
"General?" (As, I suppose, we do the Surgeon General, though I can't
remember ever hearing one addressed.) This strongly suggests that "general"
is meant as a rank (noun) and that it is modified by attorney.  Consider
lieutenant generals and brigadier generals, for instance, also addressed as
"General."
AM

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