Wal-Marts, singular

[Laurence Horn]

At 7:30 PM -0500 12/28/07, David Donnell wrote:
>I reckon you're right, Wilson. Let's say it is a possessive form (is
>that what you mean by the apostrophe?)...
>
>However, I can't think of other smalltown MO store names right now
>that use such a possessive form, if it's not a proper name... (other
>than Walgreen's, about which I ain't rightly sure).
>
>I'm sure someone will suggest some non-proper name store names with
>that possessive feature, to convince me that "Wal-Mart's" is what
>they mean, and that it's not so unique.
>
>Thanks.
>
>DD

There's a lovely new grocery store and take-out place here
specializing in Mediterranean products (it's Turkish-run, but quite
eclectic) called Limon, or (the web site,
http://www.limonfinefood.com/aboutus.html, reminds me) Limon Fine
Foods, named (as the sign indicates, for the eponymous (eponymoso?)
fruit.  It's widely known here as "Limon's".

LH

>
>
>At 4:35 PM -0500 12/28/07, Wilson Gray wrote:
>>It's not _Wal-Mart's_ that the folk from home are saying? That's the
>>way that I interpret it when I hear my East-Texas kinfolk say it.
>>
>>-Wilson
>>
>>On Dec 28, 2007 3:01 PM, David Donnell <David.Donnell at earthlink.net> wrote:
>>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>-----------------------
>>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>  Poster:       David Donnell <David.Donnell at EARTHLINK.NET>
>>>  Subject:      Wal-Marts, singular
>>>
>>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>>  Back home in smalltown Missouri, I often hear people say, for
>>>  example, "I'm going over to Wal-Marts." So the following CNN sentence
>>>  baffled me for a moment:
>>>
>>>  http://tinyurl.com/28swh6
>>>
>>>  "Wal-Marts are not supposed to return opened packages to the sales floor."
>>>
>>>  I immediately thought it was a typo, that they obviously meant to
>>>  write "Wal-Marts IS not supposed to return opened packages to the
>>>  sales floor".
>>>
>>>  (You can take the boy outa the country...)
>>>
>>>  DD
>>>  Missouri-native in NYC
>>>
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>>>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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>>
>>
>>
>>--
>>All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
>>come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>>-----
>>                                               -Sam'l Clemens
>>
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>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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