Newsgroups: sci.lang
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From: jcf@world.std.com (Joseph C Fineman)
Subject: Re: Article
Message-ID: <E027D9.32z@world.std.com>
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
References: <54lfun$qfp@freesia.ifnet.or.jp> <GPpYcBAkQ0byEwpl@kindness.demon.co.uk> <Pine.SUN.3.94.961026190400.27570B-100000@access4.digex.net> <32749106.7DD3@lonnds.ml.com>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 22:48:45 GMT
Lines: 33

Julian Pardoe <pardoej@lonnds.ml.com> writes:

>I'm fascinated to learn that the possessive is used with inanimate
>nouns in the US.  It's one of the differences between British and
>American that I've never noticed before.  Can you give us some
>example sentences?

In my idiolect (educated American, age 59) it is abnormal but not
unheard of.  It occurs

(1) In set phrases with an archaic or poetic cast: a rope's end, a
razor's edge, a day's journey, a summer's night.

(2) In journalese, where I think it got started as a space saver in
headlines.  I would not say or write "Florida's governor" myself, but
I have been hearing it on the radio & seeing it in newspapers for a
long time.

These usages have contaminated my ordinary colloquial habits to some
extent.  I think I _might_ say "One of that table's legs is short"
rather than the wordy "One of the legs of that table" -- but I would
more likely run away to "That table has one short leg".  Since I am
more sensitive to levels of usage than most people these days, and
find journalese particularly repellent, I would not be surprised to
learn that most Americans see nothing vulgar in "Florida's governor",
"this wire's insulation", etc.  About 30 years ago, come to think,
when I was working at _The Physical Review_, I saw "the neutron's
magnetic moment" in an article title & wondered if the author meant to
personify the neutron.  I think the editors let it be.
-- 
        Joe Fineman             jcf@world.std.com
        495 Pleasant St., #1    (617) 324-6899
        Malden, MA 02148
