[Ads-l] hypercorrect pluralization of attributives

[Joel Berson]

"Five foot ten", but "five feet tall"?

Joel


      From: Flourish Klink <flourish.klink at GMAIL.COM>
 To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU 
 Sent: Monday, September 19, 2016 11:36 AM
 Subject: Re: [ADS-L] hypercorrect pluralization of attributives
   
"Five foot ten" is a common way to describe height, I agree. You don't say
"five foot ten inch," just "five foot ten." I wonder why that is?

On Mon, Sep 19, 2016 at 11:17 AM MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY
RDECOM AMRDEC (US) <william.d.mullins18.civ at mail.mil> wrote:

> >
> > I think singular nouns for height are so common as to be safely
> idiomatic.
> >
> > She’s five feet eight
> > She’s five foot eight
> >
> > The latter sounds better to my ear, perhaps because the number
> calculator in the brain is treating this like a “five-mile walk". But
> >
> > She’s five feet eight inches tall
> > * She’s five foot eight inch tall
>
>
> I got a woman who stands six-foot-four
> Her head on the pillow
> And her feet on the floor
>
> Too tall to mambo
> My baby's too tall to mambo
> My girl is too tall to mambo
> But I love my baby just the same
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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

   

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