Re: Schroeder vs Merkel: A tale of two Germanys

On Tue, 20 Sep 2005 13:17:48 GMT, Joe Fineman <joe_f@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

>"Daniel G. \"Govende\" McGrath" <AUTISMgovende30@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
>
>> So then, how do you spell the singular form of "Denises", or of
>> "Louises"? ;-) Plurals of first names, those are: even the gender of
>> those names will probably vary depending on which spelling you use
>> for the base form.
>
>There is no solution to that problem. No rule solves all problems,
>especially wrt English spelling. Cf. "Speaking of axes, chop off her
>head!".

Well, you mentioned "Garrities"--I'm assuming "Garrity" is a surname?
You said something about it which I took to mean, that someone might
think the name would be spelled "Garritie" to begin with. So what if
we were to come across a surname plural like, um..."Coxes" and we were
in doubt as to how the singular base form was spelled? It would
certainly get confusing if we were dealing with the name "Coxe", as
this surname is almost always spelled "Cox". (That's the best thing I
could come up with using a slightly dated edition of the local Verizon
White Pages, in which "Cox" appears 34 times but "Coxe" not once.
However, they do say "COXE see Cox", suggesting it may be possible to
find the "e"-terminated spelling in other parts of the country.
Incidentally, I currently live in Binghamton NY.)

Anyway, I conclude that you are probably wrong in your explanation for
the lack of an "ie" in "Garritys". "Marys", too--you said that
"Maries" would be _misleading_, so does this mean that "Denises" (for
plural of "Denis") would also be misleading? (And consider what
happens to "Denises" for someone who is familiar with both the names
"Dennis"--note internal spelling--and "Denise", but not "Denis"!) One
really ought to write "Deniss", "Louiss", etc., and it's not exactly
clear to me why people invariably insert that "e" in plural forms
before giving the word a second "s", even if it is a proper name that
they are dealing with. I admit that the form "Deniss" _looks_ as if
it should be pronounced in only two syllables. One wonders how many
possible ways a solidly written "-ss" ending (as opposed to with an
apostrophe, as in the possessive "Denis's") can get pronounced in
English.

I wonder how many people have actually thought about this "Denises"
problem.

- Daniel al-Autistiqui
--
Daniel Gerard McGrath: a/k/a "Govende"
I have the developmental disability Autism.

To e-mail me, remove the six upper-case letters at
the beginning of my address.
[This signature is under construction.]

.

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