Date:  Fri, 13 May 1994 09:50:15 -0500

From:  debaron[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UIUC.EDU

Subject: Re: genitive in names of businesses



>In central Illinois, when business have singular name there is a

>tendency to render the name in the genitive. Hence:

>Eagle Supermarket -------> Eagle's

>John Deere & Co. -------> Deere's



Maybe in your part of central Illinois, but not in mine. Sure Kroger >

Kroger's, but

Jewel, Eagle, and IGA are uninflected. (Perhaps this is an uninflected

genitive).

Schnucks and other business names ending in s are of course ambiguous,

though I

don't think you hear Schnuckses or Prairie Gardenses. Carson Pirie Scott

is Carson's.

Yen Ching is Yen Ching.



Dennis (that's uninflected, right?)



------



Dennis Baron                       debaron[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]uiuc.edu



Department of English                  217-333-2392

University of Illinois                fax: 217-333-4321

608 South Wright Street

Urbana, Illinois 61801