infestations abound!

[tsukikage]

Question to all native English-speakers on my f-list:
Would you say mouse-infested or mice-infested? I suppose I should also ask where you're from.

Comments

[mizuno-caitlin.livejournal.com]

*laugh* Mouse-infested. Sounds like you're having a fun time?

[tsukikage85.livejournal.com]

Nah, just a linguistics inquiry based on something I read today. *looks around warily hoping no-one will read this before commenting* Basically, the book was talking about how when making compound nouns, we use the singular form of nouns that pluralize normally (baby-eater, not babies-eater, and rat-infested, not rat-infested), but the plural form for words that have irregular plural forms (people-eater, not person-eater, and mice-infested, not mouse-infested). Except I realized that for me, at least, I'm more likely to say mice-infested, and I was wondering if I was just weird that way.

[carve037.livejournal.com]

Probably the former.

[tsukikage85.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm the same way - unsure, but leaning towards the former.

This would be me...

[alterna-redux.livejournal.com]

My house is infested with mice.
My house is mouse-infested.

The first shows that my place is full of mice... many many mice. (My house is infested with mouse... no... infestation implies number, correct?)

The second would describe WHAT type of infestation so it would be singular. (I don't think I've ever seen cockroaches-infected or scorpians-infested or earwigs-infested, right?)

Re: This would be me...

[tsukikage85.livejournal.com]

Maybe... But from what I've read it has more to do with how our brain stores words and their plurals than anything, but maybe it's different with the word infestation?

[akibare.livejournal.com]

Didn't read any other comments yet.

I would say "mouse-infested." But, the place is infested with mice.

I live in IL, my English as a child was influenced mainly from NYC and New Orleans (via parents).

[killercherrypie.livejournal.com]

Mouse-infested. When I saw this question, I immediately thought of Mitch Hedberg's joke about the koala infestation. "It was the cutest infestation ever".

[akibare.livejournal.com]

Heh. I have two cats, and I admit, I like to talk to them, and joke that my house is INFESTED with cats. It only takes one, and I have two... :)

[tiernsshadow.livejournal.com]

Mouse-infested. Just like you'd say "roach-infested" instead of "roaches-infested."

*checks comment consensus* Whoo-hoo! I win! :D

[lugia222.livejournal.com]

Mouse-infested. Who says mice-infested?

[akaneko.livejournal.com]

Hmm, it's not something I have much occasion to say, but I THINK I'd say "mouse-infested". But, if I were talking about someone who had more than one louse on their head, I'd describe their scalp as "lice-infested". (Then again, "louse" is a relatively rare word compared to its plural.)

[hitokiri-neko.livejournal.com]

Mouse-infested. If you want to use the plural it would have to be written as 'an infestation of mice'.

[carve037.livejournal.com]

Hoard vs horde, rogue vs rouge, lol, I've seen these misspellings somewhere before...

[carve037.livejournal.com]

I can't resist. Can I steal your icon?