NOSY PARKER

A nosy parker is someone who is too inquisitive (nosy).

 Examples

 “Because I am a nosy parker, I’ve been interested in understanding conspiracy theories for a decade – long before it became academically trendy.”

 “The organisation, which started operating in the UK in the 1980s, says it is not about being a nosy parker, and points out that tackling terrorism, modern slavery, child sexual exploitation, knife crime and online scamming of the elderly and vulnerable are top of the agenda (along with household burglary).”

 “It is not known how the exotic-looking bird had found himself on the M6 in Staffordshire but it could be that the green-feathered nosy parker may have lost his way along the Midlands’ myriad of motorways.”


 Why parker? It is suggested that this name was first given to someone who spied on courting couples in Hyde Park (London). It is also linked to Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury (1504–75), who had a reputation for prying into other people’s business [1].


 Photo credit: Geoffrey Gilmour-Taylor (Creative Commons)
 [1] “Nose” in Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by Susie Dent. 19th ed. Chambers Harrap, 2012.


 Updated Saturday 22 February 2020

HIGGLEDY-PIGGLEDY

The phrase “higgledy-piggledy” describes confusion or disorder.

 Examples

 “Bask in the beauty of England's largest (and arguably most spectacular) National Park on this rail trip to the Lake District. Cruise along Lake Windermere and then head to the higgledy-piggledy village of Hawkshead, which is full of picturesque medieval cottages.”

 “Tokyo is a more jumbled city than most rich ones, but current zoning laws ensure that it is not quite as higgledy-piggledy as, say, Houston.”

 “Jenners, for all its winding staircases and higgledy-piggledy layout, had all the appeal of Emile Zola’s The Ladies Paradise – a wonderful novel on the rise of department store retail.”


 This phrase is thought to originate from a 16th century rhyming jingle related to the irregular herding of pigs [1].


 [1] Knowles, Elizabeth. “higgledy-piggledy.” In The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Oxford University Press, 2005.

 Photo credit: Steve Sawyer (Creative Commons)


 Updated Friday 21 February 2020

ACADEMIC WRITING: USING NOUNS AS ADJECTIVES

When a noun is used as an adjective, it should (almost) always be singular, e.g. "metal-modified" rather than "metals-modified" and "electrode-based" rather than "electrodes-based".


Exceptions are:

• materials science – Although the Oxford Dictionary includes both "material science" and "materials science", the latter is more commonly used in scientific writing.
• use of "data" and "media" as adjectives, e.g. "data acquisition" and "media company". [1]
• clothes (clothes hanger), sports (sports bag), customs (customs office), accounts (accounts book), arms (arms store) [2]

If you are unsure whether a plural or singular noun should be used as an adjective, you can use Google Scholar to check this. For example, a search for "nanoparticle arrays" gives 26,000 results, while a search for "nanoparticles arrays" gives 1,200.

Using nouns as adjectives can improve the flow of your writing and also reduces the word count; for instance, "reaction product" (2 words) is more concise than "product of the reaction" (4 words).

It should be noted, however, that some publishers do not like nouns to be used as adjectives [3], so it is best to consult the author guidelines for your chosen journal before writing your paper.