illicit pedantry

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@domain.elided>]

Luca is unquestionably correct (as far as I know, anyhow) in 0025 that the
Italian language does not use an apostrophe to form either a possessive or a
plural, but neither Sandro Marcantonio's post in 0021 nor Luke Kowalski's
response in 0022 was in that language. I believe that Sandro learned his
American in Colorado as a first language and that Luke learned his English in
Poland as a second language, and that the posts were in those languages,
neither of which use an apostrophe to form a plural (except in a few special
cases which do not apply) and both of which do form a plural by adding an 's'
alone (again, except in a few special cases which do not apply).

 (I would add that of the three major English usage authorities most commonly
used in the United States, Fowler's, Perrin's. and The Chicago Manual of
Style, the latest and by far the best (The Chicago) was written by Bruce
Young, one of the two co-founders of the Alfa Romeo Owners' Club; he drove
what was one of the very first Giulietta Veloce Spiders in the country, which
should establish him as a person of impeccable judgment.)

 Sandro writes, in 0026, "I am concerned however that some people actually
took it too seriously. I hope that I have not offended anybody. I really just
did it to illicit a good laugh- -" He has done so, of course, among people who
also mean well. I don't know whether Colorado schools teach their technical
students about spell-checkers, let alone grammar checkers, or whether
English-language spell-checkers would be available on Fiat's computers, but
the digest is a very accepting community. If we can take Dug Sedon we can take
anything.

 As for Sandro's P**P list, I am contented that I made the grade on items 1,
2, 8, and 14, plus probably a few he hadn't thought up yet.

 Cheers

 John H.

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