Re: [ontolog-forum] Bad language - no biscuit.

[Simon Spero <ses@xxxxxxx>]

On Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 11:43 PM, John F. Sowa <sowa@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Simon,

I have no idea what you mean by that comment.  Is that agreement or disagreement?

>> But in English, a Noun-Noun phrase simply means that Noun1 has some relationship to Noun2 that modifies or restricts its meaning.
>
> I'm afraid I'm going to have to refer your remark to the attorney general, you egghead.

Just a couple of examples of exceptions to the common pattern. Attorney General is the default example of a left-headed compound in English (Attorney is the noun that is modified).  This is almost certainly due to the French origins of the phrase.
Egghead is a compound where the meaning is external to both components of the compound.

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