German-style adjectival phrases using Latin and English elements

I wonder why on-the-job training, at-will employment, ex-parte application, in-vitro fertilization are more usual than the better English training on the job, employment at will, application ex parte, fertilization in vitro.

I also wonder why children say me and him in the subject, leading to the odious hypercorrection he and I in the object.

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One Response to German-style adjectival phrases using Latin and English elements

  1. Anton says:

    I wrote that twenty years ago? Somehow I thought it was within the past year or two.

    It is one of a handful of posts that attract most of the would-be spam comments.

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