Date:  Thu, 12 May 1994 14:37:21 EDT

From:  Larry Horn <LHORN[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]YALEVM.CIS.YALE.EDU>

Subject: Re: genitive in names of businesses



Funny you should mention this trend. In fact yesterday I stopped at our local

branch of the major East Coast discount store Caldor with my 12-year-old son

who wondered why if the store is named Caldor (as it is, in big letters on the

outside and little ones on the wagons, the receipts, etc.), the commercials

always refer to it as "Caldor's". I suggested it was to honor the founder,

Mr. Caldor, but he wasn't buying--"Old Man Caldor's?" he asked dismissively.

Caldor-->Caldor's is, in other words, precisely the same mechanism as

Eagle-->Eagle's, whatever that might be.



Larry