[Publib] Librarian Knowledge

[Bird, Daryl]

Hey, that's right. Others include Lucky (the grocery store) and Bally
(the fitness spa).

 

________________________________

From: Tom Cooper [mailto:tcooper at wgpl.org] 
Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2009 4:18 PM
To: Bird, Daryl; publib at webjunction.org
Subject: RE: [Publib] Librarian Knowledge

 

This is funny. You said: The possessive disappears in English through
use. Well, it also appears. Years ago in St. Louis there were three main
grocery store chains - Schnuck's Markets, Dierberg's Markets, and
National Food Stores. The first two bore, obviously, the names of the
families that owned them. But in south St. Louis, where we are known for
our malapropisms, many people referred to National's. You could almost
hear the apostrophe when they said it. All the National stores closed a
long time ago. Perhaps the National family went bankrupt. 

 

Tom Cooper, Director 
301 E. Lockwood 
Webster Groves, MO 63119 

(314) 961-3784 
tcooper at wgpl.org 

Do not judge beliefs by their plausibility, but by the harm they may do.

                                             Nassim Nicholas Taleb 

 

From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Bird, Daryl
Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2009 2:47 PM
To: publib at webjunction.org
Subject: RE: [Publib] Librarian Knowledge

 

All right, Mr. Smarty Pants. How would you write the possessive of a
possessive name-e.g. McDonald's? Eh? Eh?

 

________________________________

From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Backwage at aol.com
Sent: Saturday, May 16, 2009 1:47 PM
To: jlashmet at cumberland.lib.nc.us; publib at webjunction.org
Subject: Re: [Publib] Librarian Knowledge

 

In a message dated 5/16/2009 1:27:07 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
jlashmet at cumberland.lib.nc.us writes:

	It just sounds strange, and not grandiose at all. When is the
possesive used in naming something, even if it belongs to the person who
owns it?

	 

True enough.  There is Dodger Stadium, Yankee Stadium; the Eiffel Tower,
and the Ferris Wheel.  You get Tiger Stadium even though the team is not
the Tiger.  The possessive disappears in English through use.  The
apostrophe disappears in the written form, too, hence Schlitz Beer,
Coors Beer, Bayer Aspirin. Even in official use things get gone:  Down
Syndrome; Wasserman Test.  Because people ask for a Schlitz, and their
doctor says they need a Wasserman--though the connection is tenuous.

 

But whenever a folly is undertaken--those historically grand designs
which may or may not come to nothing--the possessive adheres to the
person responsible.  Hence "Seward's Folly," otherwise known as Alaska.
By the way, Eiffel's Tower was once a folly, but when it had hung around
long enough to be considered a landmark, it lost the apostrophe-S, at
least in English; in French it never had one.

 

M. M. 

 

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