# Why "Attorneys" General, etc? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 14, 2010, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-attorneys-general-etc/557164 "2010-10-14T19:27:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-attorneys-general-etc/557164/81 "2010-10-17T18:49:03Z")
Look… in the interest of not fighting, all I was trying to say is that the uniforms of the PHS are (more than likely) chosen at the sole discretion of whoever the highest ranking PHS officer is. I thought it was the Surgeon General, which is who I was describing when I said that he could wear whatever uniform he so chose. Apparently the Surgeon General isn’t the highest commissioned rank in the PHS, so I was wrong. However, the Assistant Secretary for Health is the highest commissioned officer in the PHS, so that person could unilaterally choose to wear some crazy uniform (or not wear them at all) if they so chose. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-attorneys-general-etc/557164/82 "2010-10-17T18:49:43Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > > [@Monty](#): > > > > What’s to clarify? I posted facts directly from the USPH. > > I question your interpretation of what was written. You’re questioning my interpretation of the terms _actual_ and _equivalent_? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-attorneys-general-etc/557164/83 "2010-10-17T19:05:51Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > > [@Monty](#): > > > > What’s to clarify? I posted facts directly from the USPH. > > I question your interpretation of what was written. Did you read the table? It seems pretty unambiguous to me. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-attorneys-general-etc/557164/84 "2010-10-17T19:09:37Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > > > I question your interpretation of what was written. > > You’re questioning my interpretation of the terms _actual_ and _equivalent_? The cites you’ve given refer to grades, titles, and ranks. I’m not certain these terms are interchangeable. You may be right but I don’t feel you’ve documented it. So I wrote to the service to ask them. ---
**Author:** ![falcotron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3ab097/32.png) [@falcotron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/falcotron)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-attorneys-general-etc/557164/85 "2010-10-17T19:32:32Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > I have enough trouble ordering a panino. Has a graffiti artist ever just made one graffito? [/QUOTE] Yes, all of them. The man who would graffiti a city begins with one small tag. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2010, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-attorneys-general-etc/557164/86 "2010-10-18T17:40:32Z")
Okay, I got a response back from the USPHSCC. My email to them: > [@](#): > > Hello, I’m seeking an answer to a general question about your service. A friend and I are having a disagreement about the ranks in your service. I’m saying that Regina Benjamin’s rank is Vice Admiral and Surgeon General of the United States is her title. He is saying that her official rank is O-9/Surgeon General and she is just addressed as a Vice Admiral because that is the equivalent of her rank. Which of us is correct? Thank you for your help. Their response: > [@](#): > > Thank you for your interest in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. Both of you are correct. The 0-9 grade designation is Surgeon General with the rank referred to as Vice Admiral. This seems somewhat equivocal but what are you going to do? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-attorneys-general-etc/557164/87 "2010-10-18T18:34:09Z")
Steering the conversation adroitly away from Surgeons General and their vices admiral (;)), let me point out some British uses: The present occupant of the throne and Queen Victoria are queens regnant, as opposed to E2R’s late mother and Victoria’s grandmother, who were queens consort. The queen’s daughter Anne is, and her aunt Alexandra was, the last two instances of Princesses Royal, a title apparently given the eldest daughter of a monarch with sons. Heraldic language is replete with postpositional adjectives: A lion or other animal may be depicted statant (standing on all fours), sejant (sitting as a dog might), passant (depicted walking across the shield, looking in the direction it is going, passant gardant (walking but looking ‘out’ at the observer), passant regardant (walking with head turned to look ‘behind’ himself), rampant (rearing up, with one hind paw on the ground and forepaws extanded to attack), naiant (swimming, though this is more common of aquatic creatures), etc. All these technical adjectives are used postpositionally. Line and abstract ‘charges’ like the pale, fess, saltire, etc., may be unduly (wavy), fleury (with borders rising to repeated fleurs-de-lys), castellate (in the shape of castle battlements), etc. In all these cases it is the leading noun, not the following adjective, which is pluralized. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-attorneys-general-etc/557164.md?page=4)