"incorrect" possessive pronouns

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Oct 21, 2004, at 5:40 PM, Jesse Sheidlower wrote:

> On Thu, Oct 21, 2004 at 07:38:01PM -0500, Patti J. Kurtz wrote:
>> Thanks Arnold-- I'll do that-- and excuse the faux pas, but what does
>> MWDEU stand for, please?
>
> I'm not Arnold, but it's the _Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English
> Usage_, one of the greatest books ever.

absolutely.

back when geoff pullum and rodney huddleston (and their cast of dozens)
were just embarking on CGEL, geoff came across MWDEU and called me up
to ask, in an outraged tone, "why doesn't *everybody* know about this
book?"

it too was a group project, and a good thing too; the world has far too
many usage dictionaries that express a very personal and unique take on
things.  and it was done by people with real knowledge of linguistics;
the world also has far too many usage guides that build on shards of
half-understood traditional grammar and the opinions of sharp-tongued
amateurs.

now if only it could somehow be brought up to date some.

arnold