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(Last Update: 07:36 PDT 1 September 2009 )
This is a list I've been collecting of awkward or amusing noun clusters (long noun phrases consisting primarily of nouns modifying other nouns). These are also sometimes called "noun stacks", "noun strings", or "noun compounds". If you have any good ones (from real writing), please send them to me at karplus@soe.ucsc.edu . Thanks!
Provided by Jonatha Caspian:
FAA is full of noun clusters without punctuation, most further converted
into acronyms, and sometimes into nested acronyms. Check out the
International GNSS Service (IGS), formerly the International GPS
Service, using both Global Positioning System (GPS) and Global
Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) as the nested "G".
Here's one from aviation-related technical writing, courtesy of the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA): communications navigation
surveillance/air traffic management, or CNS/ATM. It's the new,
integrated method of knowing where you are in the sky.
In Fall 2004, there was an invitation sent to the grad students of the School of Engineering at UCSC to attend a "Science Studies Research Cluster". The invitation did not make it clear how the nouns were to be parsed. I queried the inviter and got an explanation of what "Science Studies" are: "an interdisciplinary examination of Science and Scientific Practices." Further clarification: " The main purpose would be an epistemological examination of the processes of knowledge production endemic to modern day science." She did not explain what a "Research Cluster" is, but I'm not sure I care.
In 2001, I found myself writing some "soda bottle rocket launcher plans".
Not only does the "United States Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration" have a big noun cluster for its name, it sponsors the "Childhood Injury Prevention Week" on "The Center for Mental Health Services Knowledge Exchange Network".
From a "Notice to City of Santa Cruz Residents": Sewer Infiltration Reduction Project
From spam: "Spiral Inductor Analysis and Design Tool"
From Dan Scripture: "nineteen-year-old architecture student Maya Lin's Yale class assignment" [the Vietnam Veterans Memorial]
An uninformative title for an outline assignment: Computer Design Project Documentation Outline
Here are some "good" noun stacks I found in final papers:
From a paper turned in for my typesetting class: rigid disc drive product line
From a tech report: static RAM control input voltage level tester
From project proposals, 1998:
From a final paper, spring 1998: two operation channel transmission scheme
From a draft PhD thesis: Surf design rule enforcement strategy
Made up, but plausible: toilet paper roll holder attachment bracket mounting screw
From an e-mail subject line: Acer telnet hang sysdump crash analysis help
Not really a noun cluster, but a highly modified noun phrase from a final exam: 64KByte (2^16) virtually-addressed direct-mapped, unified, write-back cache.
A title from the assignment to write a consultant's report: Zip Code Sorting Speed Remedy: Algorithm Replacement.
From http://www.broadcatch.com/cdml.htm, comes this lovely title: The Cooperative Distributed Meta-Librarian Protocol, which is two adjectives, a prefix, and two nouns. Not very complicated syntactically, but a bit hard to assign a meaning to.
From the University adminstration, wanting faculty to comment on a proposed new information system about students---a brochure titled Requirements Definition Process Faculty Liaison Plan
In the "Benefits Update" UCSC update #00-11-01: 2001 benefit plan change overview.
From a student paper, Winter 2003: computing time growth rate comparison.
From a student paper, Winter 2003: merge sort algorithm approach.
From a student paper, Winter 2003: espresso command prompt logic collapser. (What is meant is the "espresso program for logic minimization".) Later in the same sentence was mustang command prompt state-machine encoder.
From a title in a journal article: mouse stem cell gene expression kinetics.
Examples (reproduced without permission) from the text Reporting Technical Information by Kenneth Houp, Thomas Pearsall, Elizabeth Tebeaux, and Sam Dragga:
Examples (reproduced without permission) from the text Technical Writing and Professional Communication for Nonnative Speakers of English by Thomas Huckin and Leslie Olsen (still my favorite tech-writing text):
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Questions about page content should be directed to
Kevin Karplus
Biomolecular Engineering
University of California, Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
USA
karplus@soe.ucsc.edu
1-831-459-4250
318 Physical Sciences Building
