[Ads-l] hypercorrect pluralization of attributives

[Benjamin Barrett]

three inches wide
five miles long
a hundred leagues deep

BB

> On 19 Sep 2016, at 16:16, Joel Berson <berson at att.net> wrote:
> 
> "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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> 
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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