Buttock(s) -- Even sports trainers don't know what it/they is/are

Joel S. Berson Berson at ATT.NET
Tue May 15 20:26:58 UTC 2012


 From Brian McNamee's testimony in the Roger Clemens Federal perjury
trial yesterday:

"Roger pulled down his pants, exposing his right buttocks cheek to
me," McNamee said. "I irrigated the area with a pad, and he bent his
leg and flexed his butt and relaxed, and said, 'I'm ready.' Oh, right
before, he said, 'Make sure there are no air bubbles.' " And then,
McNamee said, "I plunged the fluid into his buttock."

NYTimes today,
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/15/sports/baseball/trainer-testifies-in-clemens-perjury-trial.html?_r=1

My default would be simply (a la "my right knee") to say "his right
buttock".  But if one has to add "cheek" to give a more precise
location, either "the cheek of his right buttock" or -- with a
possessive apostrophe -- "his right buttock's [buttocks's?] cheek".

Admittedly, the transcriber might not known whether McNamee intended
an apostrophe or where to stick it, assuming McNamee didn't actually
say "butt-ox-es".

Joel

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