hypercorrect pluralization of attributives

Arnold Zwicky zwicky at STANFORD.EDU
Mon Mar 30 13:40:23 UTC 2009


On Mar 29, 2009, at 5:26 PM, Jon Lighter wrote:

>
> I now see that Google Books has hundreds of exx. of "craps game"
> going back
> several decades, but that doesn't make it any less hypercorrect.
>
> I.e., ridiculous.

not ridiculous or incorrect, much less hypercorrect.  *the name of the
dice game* is "craps".  you "shoot craps".  "crap game" would be
absurd, like "jack game", "measle infection", etc.

see the OED entry for "craps".  of obscure origin (not obviously
related to "crap" 'feces'),

arnold

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