Hate the context, not the construction...

Courts martial.

I have a dirty little secret about the phrase. I find it to be one of the most satisfying sounds. Not because those who broke the law will be brought to justice. It's because of it's oddly proper pluralization. Like attorneys general or sisters-in-law, it's music to my ears. It's such an irregular way of pluralizing a compound noun that it does something to me when I hear it. Maybe it's because it always sounds unexpected or because it makes me feel better than other people who wouldn't have known how to say it correctly.

I've been hearing "courts martial" a lot lately because of the terrible Iraqi prisoner abuse stories. It makes me feel a little guilty that the word tickles me so. It's not everyday that people use such a phrase, though, so when once in a blue moon the strange construction gets dragged out of the grammatical closet and put on display I find pleasure in it. The dictionary will give you the option of certain compound words (cupfuls and cupsful are both acceptable), but other words have only one form (passersby, not passerbys). Courts martial is one of the latter types. Oh, but beware the cable TV pundit that says "court martials!" Wrong! When watching CNN Friday morning, I found myself yelling back at poor Soledad O'Brien, "That's not right, you ninny!" I felt robbed of my linguistic high and I yelled at a pregnant lady on television. My outburst left me shamed, but the principles of grammar were on my side. So let's all try to get it right when we speak about these events. For me, Soledad.