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by OJFord 1711 days ago
The unfortunate thing about that is that it's wrong. I don't mean the usage, I'm British so I'm firmly 'lots of Lego', but it's obviously a noun. Using it to describe a brick etc. doesn't preclude that. (It's 'attributive', or 'adjunct'.)
1 comments
mekkkkkk 1710 days ago
Is "SQL" in "SQL server" also a noun? Not trying to argue one way or the other, I honestly don't know (non-native english speaker).
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dragonwriter 1710 days ago
In “SQL Server”, “SQL” functions as an adjective modifying “Server”; its not unusual for what are normally nouns to do that, distinguished only by position(e.g , “hat” in “hat rack”.)
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mekkkkkk 1710 days ago
So when the LEGO™®© folk are arguing that "LEGO is always an adjective", they might mean that using it as an adjective noun is the correct thing to do, rather than claiming that "LEGO" by itself is an adjective? I suppose that since "LEGO" is the name of a real concept (the LEGO system) it's unavoidably a noun in essence.
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OJFord 1710 days ago
Wikipedia says [0] 'adjectival noun' was 'formerly synonymous, but now usually means an adjective used as a noun'.

Regardless, it's not an adjective, much less 'always' - it's always a noun; sometimes used attributively ('adjectivally' if you like) / as a noun adjunct, such as in 'Lego bricks'.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noun_adjunct#Related_concepts

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