Teacher Discussion Forums

I want to know if you prefer "gerbil scrotum harness" or "gerbil scrotal harness" and if the first, where the hyphen is. "Gerbil-scrotum harness" or "Gerbil scrotum-harness"? Or no hyphen?

Curiously googling hasn't helped, nor have any corpora.

What I'd also like to know is by what process you arrive at your conclusion. Intuition? Analogy? (With what for heaven's sake?)

It depends on the context, Juan. Do you mean a harness made out of gerbils' scrotums (scrota?) or a harness for a gerbil's scrotum? And have you asked a gerbil?

I'd have thought it was obvious. I want to control the direction in which my gerbil driven coach goes by pulling gently on harnesses attached to the gerbils' scrota. Who would want to make harnesses out of gerbils' ball bags? There's no need to be silly, lolwhites.

Not a squeak from my team of matched gerbils. Well not about the correct term for their harness, though they do seem to be sqeaking more since I removed the tiny bits from their mouths. Gratitude I expect.

The RSPCA could probably tell you what the correct term is, though they're probably trying to stamp the practice out.

The gerbils enjoy it. Everybody knows that. You only have to see their tiny grinning faces to know they are having a good time. Anyway think of the coach-makers and saddlers and harness-makers, not to mention the millions who enjoy gerbil-racing, who would be deprived of their livelihoods, or simple pleasures, just because a handful of misguided do-gooders think there is anything remotely cruel about exerting a slight pressure on rodents' private parts. I mean, you can't whip them that easily, they're too small to get any kind of accuracy, and the bits hurt their incisors. It's logical: if your left testicle was going to the left, you'd go to the left with it, wouldn't you?

Which is all very well but doesn't answer my question.

The head word is harness, unless there is a specific implement called a scrotum-harness.

Hyphens are not necessary and do not solve the ambiguities (is it a harness for gerbil scrotums, a harness made out of scrotums for gerbils, a harness for anything made out of gerbil scrotums or whatever).

I am sure that either the manufacture or use of the implement would leave a lot of castrated gerbil corpora scattered around the place so it is yet another example of intuition having to play second fiddle to corpus research.

We may lead very sheltered lives, Stephen, because I suspect that there probably is said implement. It might even be de rigeur formal wear in some social circles.

Your concern about disembodied gerbils' parts due to over-enthusiastic mushing has been addressed by the governing body of the sport:
Careful Harnessing Obviates Musine Sadism Control Institute.

CHOMSCI takes a dim view of such behaviour.

I would use the slightly (but only slightly) less distracting adjective scrotal. I think referring to a gerbil's scrotum would be placing a bit more undue emphasis and consideration on it — especially when coupled with a hyphen — instead of driving us on to the real deal: harness.

I can see the attraction of high-speed gerbil-racing: add a few incisors to your wheels and you could do a Ben Fur round the packs of sawdust (beats hamsterbaiting?). Wouldn't want to get trampled under the next guy's team, though - multiple scrotal harness injuries we can all well do without.

I did actually see a worksheet, which was given to first-year undergrads in a Paris university, about ambiguous noun phrases. It asked students to give two possible meanings of NP's like old women's clothes or an online business course, with possible French translations (which would vary depending on the meaning).

"My son has grown another foot"

"Parking meter attacks rocket"

The point I was making is that we can't depend completely on things that have been said before. People do sometimes want to be completely original and yet we seem to sometimes more reward students who string together near-clichés. Is it a possible limit to CL?

"Police found drunk in shop window"

I'm always a bit wary of innovating in languages other than my own. How do others feel about encouraging students to innovate rather than speak in clichés?

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

Ingres enjoyed painting models in the nude.

Not to mention "Let him have it, Chris!".

Cliché may not be the right word but it'll do to describe collocations which are not as fresh as a

a primrose
b daisy
c cucumber
d melon

I would opt for "gerbilline scrotal harness"; i.e. a scrotal harness that pertains to gerbils.

All the best,

MrP

You are a genius, MrP. I for one was still fretting over these literal b*llocks.