Caption on a nature site: "Ruby-_Throat_ Hummingbird"

[Laurence Horn]

On Jul 8, 2012, at 9:03 AM, Charles C Doyle wrote:

> Like "white-tailed deer" (2,770,000 raw Google hits) vs. "white-tail deer" (780,000 hits).  The OED acknowledges both forms.
>
> --Charlie
>

Or "one-armed man" (1,820,000) vs. "one-arm man" (555,000), even closer.  And when I tried combining it with "the Fugitive", I got a surprisingly close competition:

"one-armed man" + "the Fugitive":  34,700
"one-arm man" + "the Fugitive":  21,700

LH

> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Arnold Zwicky [zwicky at STANFORD.EDU]
> Sent: Sunday, July 08, 2012 12:20 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>>>
>>> Till now, I'd been under the impression that the hummingbird was
>>> called "ruby-throat_ed_."
>
> this example is unclear, since it could be a reinterpretation, as 'hummingbird with a ruby throat'.
>
> arnold
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org