Date: Fri, 22 Sep 1995 09:42:49 -0400

From: Merri Lisa Johnson mj906388[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]OAK.CATS.OHIOU.EDU

Subject: Re: Plural Proper Nouns



On Thu, 21 Sep 1995, Tom Uharriet wrote:



Fritz Juengling writes:



When I was in grade school, we learned the rule,

"drop the y , add ies . For years, when I was studying

German, there were two "Germanies." Then about 5 years ago,

when the Germanies were reuniting, I saw nothing in the papers

except 'Germanys.' This violated everything I had ever

learned, both in English and German classes.



Did that ies rule apply to proper nouns?

In a room full of people named either Wendy or Terry, do we have . . .

six Wendies and seven Terries

or, six Wendy's and seven Terry's

or, six Wendys and seven Terrys?





Tom Uharriet

utom[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]admn.712.nebo.edu





Hi. I just wanted to add that I hate that crazy "change y to ies" rule.

As a matter of fact, I refused to observe it as an English major

undergraduate. Can we change it?



Merri Lisa

Ohio University