Vals Kilmer (like "attorneys general"?)

[sagehen]

>>"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
~~~~~~~~~
 >Of course it is cock-eyed, although French-eyed would be a better
>label. The French term (hence the possibility of modifiers to the
>eight) indicates the "general" scope of the office-holder's interest,
>not a military-like rank at all.
>
>dInIs
~~~~~~~~~~~
I've no beef with adjectives following nouns, a la francais. This still
doesn't explain why we address this (general interest) attorney as
"General" if it isn't meant as a rank.....?
AM


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