A (new?) twist on plural 's

Mark A Mandel mam at THEWORLD.COM
Sun Jun 29 22:57:28 UTC 2003


On Fri, 27 Jun 2003, David Bowie wrote:

#At the Ruby's Inn general store (a terribly overpriced grocery store and
#trinket shop just outside the main entrance to Bryce Canyon National Park in
#Utah) yesterday, I saw the following sign over a doorway:
#
#     Employees' only
#
#I figure plural non-possessive s' (as opposed to plural 's) has probably been
#witnessed elsewhere and discussed on the list already, but I don't remember
#such a discussion and couldn't find one from a quick search in the archives,
#so I figured I'd post it in case it hasn't appeared previously.

This seems as good a time as any to insert a text I copied a day or two
ago. It was across the top of the windshield of a fire truck in Upper
Darby, Penn. (just west of Philadelphia). Unlike the ornate inscriptions
in gold paint announcing the truck's number, affiliations, fire company
motto, etc., this was made of white stick-on letters, evidently by the
proud members of the company instead of any official source:

        WHERE THE EAST REACHES IT'S HEIGHT'S

"When in doubt, apostrophe"?

-- Mark A. Mandel



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