Date:  Wed, 2 Jul 1997 02:17:31 -0500
From:  Greg Pulliam <gpulliam[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CHARLIE.CNS.IIT.EDU>
Subject: plural ozark

I understand and can accept (theoretically) Don Lance's argument that

"Eventually, the -s in the written form [of the early French explorers] led
to a (re-)morphologizing process that has given us 'The Ozarks.'"

On the other hand, just about every mountain range in the USA that I can
think of takes the singular attributive and the plural nominative: The
Rocky Mountains, the Rockies; the Appalachian Mountains, the Appalachians;
the Adirondack Mountains, the Adirondacks; etc.

Why not the Ozark Mountains, the Ozarks? (I'll admit here that I'd RATHER
believe that we were just adhering to a standard American English pattern
than accept that we were apeing the French.)




Gregory J. Pulliam
Illinois Institute of Technology
Lewis Department of Humanities
Chicago, IL  60616
gpulliam[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]charlie.cns.iit.edu