Date:  Thu, 12 May 1994 14:51:10 EDT

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

Subject: Re: genitive in names of businesses



Funny, I've never heard "Kmart's", even though it's precisely of the same form

as "Caldor('s)". Maybe the '-mart' morpheme is just TOO non-personal.

Incidentally, the main alternative to Caldor('s) is Bradlees (no apostrophe),

which may be one factor in the shift. We don't have Walmart here yet, but it

would strike me as equally weird to have "Walmart's". On the other hand, we

do have Walgreens, but that COULD be a name (cf. Woolworths).



Larry