General Pet Peeve

For the record, regarding positions like the Surgeon General, the latter part of the title is not a rank. The Attorney General for example isn't somebody who has been promoted from Attorney Colonel. Thus the correcter plural form is "attorneys general," although thanks to good old fashioned American democracy, the alternate form "attorney generals" is now acceptable according to some standard dictionaries.

Nevertheless, a big red raspberry goes out this morning to Senator Kennedy. He usually sounds so erudite with his New English accent (some even claim the Kennedys have evolved their own dialect) , but he tarnished his lingua familia when he began his opening remarks in the Alberto Gonzales hearings with the greeting, "Good morning, General." A poor bit of usage from one of this country's senators major.