[Ads-l] hypercorrect pluralization of attributives

[Jonathan Lighter]

Here's one that's clearly unidiomatic as well as orthographically
clumsy-looking. "SEAL team" is the normal form.

2012 N.Y. Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/movies/act-of-valor-film-with-active-duty-members-of-navy-seals.html
:

"Act of Valor" follows a SEALs team as it rescues an undercover agent in
the Philippines [etc.].

BONUS: it was Costa Rica, not the Philippines.

JL

On Mon, Mar 30, 2015 at 3:35 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: hypercorrect pluralization of attributives
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Sun, Mar 29, 2015 at 8:03 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > CNN is talking about "the Houthis rebels."
> >
> > I've recently heard "the movies industry."
> >
> > Plus (I hope you're sitting down) "the aircrafts industry."
> >
>
> Reminds me of "three-feet-long stick," "ten-yards-long path,"
> "eight-hours-long shift," etc.
>
>
> --
> -Wilson
> -----
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -Mark Twain
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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