A while back Ben was complaining about UK adjectival-noun plurals filtering into American English, as in "games mistress," "bribes inquiry," etc.
Well, I've just spotted this usage in an official federal document for the first time. A HUD Notice of Funding Availability issued in August says: "Demolition grants applications will be accepted until September 17, 2004." Of course, that "s" in "grants" might be an ordinary typo, but it might also be evidence of increased Britishisms usage in the U.S.
[UPDATE: Whaddayaknow, here's another, also from the Federal Register in August. The Comptroller of the Currency has an announcement about a "lending limits pilot program."]
Posted by Martha Bridegam at September 1, 2004 03:17 PMExcellent. Soon no one will be able to accuse me of pretention.
Posted by: Alan Hogue at September 2, 2004 03:58 PMI was also gratified to spot pluralization with an apostrophe while I was in the UK. I'd grown up believing this abomination to be a unique indictment of the state of American learning, and spotting it abroad was a relief.
Posted by: Ben Brumfield at September 8, 2004 12:45 PM