Date: Sat, 3 Feb 1996 19:27:47 EST
From: Larry Horn LHORN[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]YALEVM.CIS.YALE.EDU
Subject: Re: socks and shoes
Lynne Murphy objects,
all the conjunction rules have failed to explain to me why we have
the twin cities of champaign-urbana, illinois, wherein there is the
university of illinois at urbana-champaign.
Au contraire. The former order follows from the fact that Champaign (58,000
or so) is larger and presumptively more important than Urbana (35,000 or so)
in the view of Illinois or the world as a whole, while the latter is explained
by the greater significance of Urbana with respect to Champaign in the context
of the University of Illinois. In particular, while departments and
university buildings may be scattered across both communities, it is Urbana
which has always housed linguistics.
--Larry