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