a "thats" possessive on the national news

[Neal Whitman]

Great catch!

I wrote about my son unapologetically using possessive "that's" here:
http://literalminded.wordpress.com/2011/03/23/we-dont-speak-the-same-language/
A linguist on Twitter even tweeted "I'm with your son on that's over whose"
after reading the post. I'm amazed how strongly this analogy is catching on.

Neal

----- Original Message -----
From: "Laurence Horn" <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Friday, March 25, 2011 10:04 PM
Subject: a "thats" possessive on the national news


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      a "thats" possessive on the national news
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On ABC's World News Tonight tonight, reporter Ryan Owens, in Austin
> TX commenting on the correlation between church-going and obesity,
> referred to
>
> "...a megachurch thats waistline is growing as fast as its congregation"
>
> I don't think I've ever heard one of these in "mainstream" use of this
> kind.
>
> LH
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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