attributive freshman

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On 11/2/06, FRITZ JUENGLING <juengling_fritz at salkeiz.k12.or.us> wrote:
>
> This has been a topic of conversation in our English Department for some
> time.  I am happy with freshman (and am also a German speaker).  Do you
> also want 'sophomores girls', 'juniors girls,' and 'seniors girls'?

A more apt comparison would be the very frequent use of attributive
"women" with plural heads: "women journalists", "women lawyers",
"women surgeons", etc. "Freshmen" now seems to be traveling the same
path. There aren't many other "-men" plurals that are common enough to
get this treatment, but note that most major US dictionaries give the
plural of "gentleman farmer" as "gentlemen farmers".


--Ben Zimmer

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