The False Possessive

[Joel S. Berson]

An inanimate object cannot disappoint someone?

Joel

At 3/4/2009 01:50 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>The theory of the false possessive holds that inanimate things cannot
>logically "possess" anything.  Of course, tradition allows us to use the few
>idiomatic exceptions like "a day's wage."  It is a corruption we must
>unfortunately live with.
>
>BRAIN-TEASER:
>
>Any English professor of 1899 could see what's wrong with this sentence.
>Can you?
>
>"I was very disappointed."
>
>JL
>
>On Wed, Mar 4, 2009 at 12:56 PM, Baker, John <JMB at stradley.com> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Baker, John" <JMB at STRADLEY.COM>
> > Subject:      The False Possessive
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >        In the midst of Jon's eloquent and insightful posts, I was
> > struck by his rhetorical question, "Who today follows the
> > nineteenth-century dictum to 'avoid the false possessive'?"  Partly this
> > was because I had never actually heard of the false possessive.
> > Predictably, there is somebody who follows (or purports to follow) that
> > dictum.  As it turns out, it's The Economist, which says in its Style
> > Guide,
> > http://www.economist.com/research/styleGuide/index.cfm?page=673933:
> > "And avoid the false possessive: London's Heathrow Airport."  The
> > Economist does not bother to explain exactly why this should be avoided.
> >
> >        MWDEU calls this "genitive with inanimate nouns" (on page 475)
> > and, of course, says it is perfectly standard.
> >
> >
> >  John Baker
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
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