Today I saw a box of "Corn Flake Crumbs" among my wife's baking supplies and I paused to wonder why it isn't "Corn Flakes Crumbs". After all, a lotta flakes went into their production. Then, a few minutes later, I was changing the light bulb over the front entrance and it had "60 Watt" printed on it rather than "60 Watts". And it is conventionally called " a 60 watt bulb". I believe this dropping of the s tends to confuse people who have English as a second language. Why is it done?

There are also phrases with "ten foot pole" and "three dollar bill". It's just one of the quirks of language. It seems to have to do with with phrases of the structure [[adjective noun] noun].

I am fairly sure that we've had some discussion on this before, but I couldn't find it.

Interestingly, it was "Corn Flake Crumbs," but just plain "60 Watt." I guess in the latter "bulb" was understood.

Not to forget the even more confusing

The boy is three years old.

but

A three-year-old boy. (no "s")

Ye, that i confuing.

When I hear someone say, "He's six foot three" it seems awkward to me. I say, "six FEET," but I'm in a very small minority. Or should I say, "six feets?"

And it happens in numbers. Nobody I know says "two thousands nine hundreds and twenty-three" for 2923. Yet, there are thousands of grams in two kilos.

quote:

Originally posted by Asa Lovejoy:
When I hear someone say, "He's six foot three" it seems awkward to me. I say, "six FEET," but I'm in a very small minority. Or should I say, "six feets?"

And I don't think I've ever heard anyone say "He's six feet three" only "He's six foot three".

Same here. I suspect Asa is in a small minority here.

quote:

I say, "six FEET," but I'm in a very small minority.

I'd say "6 foot 3." Yet, wouldn't one say, "He's 6 feet, 3 inches tall."? [That punctuation seems right, but looks stupid!]

I can't imagine learning our language!

quote:

Originally posted by Asa Lovejoy:
When I hear someone say, "He's six foot three" it seems awkward to me. I say, "six FEET," but I'm in a very small minority.

Mae West conversation, as written in wikipedia:

quote:

Mae: How tall are you without your horse?
Young actor: Six foot, seven inches.
Mae: Never mind the six feet. Let's talk about the seven inches!