Ah but Kevin, new languages are being invented as quickly as old ones are being standardized. Think "texting." Language is as language does.
Best,
Kerry
----- Original Message -----
From: Kevin Burton Smith
To: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2010 6:47 PM
Subject: RARA-AVIS: You Say "Hornet's", I Say "Hornets'"
Craig wrote:
> Not meaning to be snarky here. I just know that the people who would have
> checked the spelling would've merely gone to the dictionary.
Ah, snarky is as snarky does. I guess I deserved that. I skipped that whole checking part because I grew up with hornets' nests. And there just aren't any hornets where I am now (mostly it's rattlesnakes and coyotes), so it hasn't come up in real life yet.
> As for whether it's a threat to American masculinity I can't say, except that
> the one time I stepped on a hornets' nest, I screamed like a little girl when
> they started stinging me. :)
See why it seems weird to me? It could be read as a nest belonging to "a hornet" but "they" stung you.
But what do I know? I still spell colour with a "u" and call them "elastics," not "rubber bands." An infinite source of amusement for some of my American co-workers.
Still, I guess I shouldn't complain. The world will be a much duller place when regionalism and cultural differences are stamped out completely, and the entire world is steamrollered to a gummy, dumbed down homogenous blandness controlled by corporations.
Kevin Burton Smith
Editor/Founder
The Thrilling Detective Web Site
"Wasting your time on the web since 1998."
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