How to form the possessive of polysllabic personal names ending with the sound of "s" or "z" probably occasions more dissension among writers and editors than any other orthographic matter open to disagreement. Some espouse the rule that the possessive of all such names should be formed by the addition of an apostrophe only. Such a rule would outlaw spellings like "Dylan Thomas's poetry," "Roy Harris's composition," and "Maria Callas's performance" in favor of "Thomas'," "Harris'," and "Callas'," which would not commend themselves to many.

Other writers and editors simply abandon the attempt to define in precise phonic or orthographic terms the class of polysyllabic names to which only the apostrophe should be attached and follow a more pragmatic rule. In essence this is, "If it ends with a z sound, treat it like a plural; if it ends with an s sound treat it like a singular." Thus they would write "Dickens', Hopkins', Williams'," but also "Harris's, Thomas's, Callas's, Angus's, Willis's," and the like.

What got me going on this project was a Google Alert (I Google myself because I have to know when I've been quoted or misquoted. And, because I've got an ego the size of Connecticut) from a webpage called "Lingua Publica." The quote, from the column on the Ten Commandment decision by the US Supreme Court was:

"The Supremes have said that there are places and times for religion in American public life and for most of us that is not everywhere nor all the time."

The photo shows the three binders which include only the columns from 1998 through 2000. I know I've written this much. What I can't believe is, you've read this much!

Thank you.

The Mullmobile, which is a 1999 Landrover Discovery, gets about 15 miles per gallon.

However, the Skippy Scooter gets about 70 mpg so my fleet average is a very, VERY green 42.5!

Catchy Caption of the Day

The stranded Russian mini-sub safely back on the surface.

Two good outcomes: All aboard are in good shape. They had to slice through the undersea intelligence cables in which it had become entangled.

(AP Photo/Russian Television Pool via APTN)