Why is it attorneys general And not attorney generals? Brothers in law and not brother in laws?
In: Culture
Same reason we say “green trees” and not “greens tree.” In English, we only pluralize the noun, and not any adjectives (or adjective phrases) that modify it. The weird thing with the examples you picked – and what makes them sound a little strange – is that the modifiers come *after* the noun, which is pretty rare in English. But the rule isn’t that the last thing gets pluralized, it’s that the noun gets pluralized, wherever it sits.
The Attorney General is an attorney, and “General” is the modifier saying that he is the attorney of the general public, or the government (rather than a noun meaning a military leader). So to pluralize we say Attorneys (more than one lawyer) General (modifying these attorneys’ job). Same with brothers in law – they are my brothers, and we modify it by saying “in-law” to distinguish from a blood relationship.
There aren’t many phrases like that in English, but the ones that do exist follow that same rule. God Almighty is one (although I guess “almighty God” is used as well), but a polytheist might say “gods almighty.” I have two grandparents who taught at college and have since retired – they are “professors emeritus” rather than “professor emerituses.” It can be a little weird, but it’s correct as far as the grammar goes.
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