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 Post subject: "Wal-Mart's"
PostPosted: Sun Sep 07, 2003 9:01 am 
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Joined: Fri Nov 15, 2002 1:01 am
Posts: 3557
Location: Cusp of retirement, grave or both
The prior "Man of the People" post reminds me of how much I hate when people say "Wal-Mart's." As if the chain was started by Sam Wal-Mart. <p>Unfortunately, I have seen this arrive in local copy. (As in "Police said Smith stole $27,000 in merchandise from the Wal-Mart's at which he worked.") <p>Worst of all, one of the local bus runs, as listed on the destination sign on the front of the bus, is "WAL-MART'S." <p>So I guess this is a losing battle. One of many.


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 Post subject: Re: "Wal-Mart's"
PostPosted: Sun Sep 07, 2003 5:32 pm 
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Joined: Wed Nov 20, 2002 1:01 am
Posts: 83
Location: New York
Similar: Nordstrom's.


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 Post subject: Re: "Wal-Mart's"
PostPosted: Sun Sep 07, 2003 5:52 pm 
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Joined: Thu Nov 21, 2002 1:01 am
Posts: 356
Location: Everett, Wash.
I dunno; doesn't bother me much. I read it as people implying "store" when they say "Wal-Mart's." Doesn't mean that people believe there's a Sam Wal-Mart, only that the store belongs to the Wal-Mart corporation. Around here, people do that with "Boeing's" when referring to the Boeing plant. We change it in copy, of course, but you got to let it slide most other times; it's just the informal way people speak.<p>It's certainly no more aggravating than when businesses that are named after someone give up and leave the apostrophe out of the business name. For example, Albertsons markets here on the West Coast.


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 Post subject: Re: "Wal-Mart's"
PostPosted: Sun Sep 07, 2003 8:19 pm 
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Location: Cusp of retirement, grave or both
I think I will start telling people I work for "Hearst's."


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 Post subject: Re: "Wal-Mart's"
PostPosted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 10:48 am 
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Joined: Sat Feb 01, 2003 1:01 am
Posts: 281
Location: Dallas
There's a running joke in my family to make fun of my mom, who constantly adds S's to business names and deletes them from others. She doesn't know why she does it, and the knowledge doesn't make her stop.<p>Perhaps there's some linguistic answer to this mystery?


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 Post subject: Re: "Wal-Mart's"
PostPosted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 11:20 am 
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Joined: Fri Nov 15, 2002 1:01 am
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Location: Cusp of retirement, grave or both
I think it's just that the S becomes implied when there is a more common construction that uses it.<p>For example, I sometimes write a column with a guy named Wilkin. I would daresay the more common name would be "Wilkins." Ergo, civilians who talk to me about him usually refer to him as Wilkins. I bet he gets tired of it.


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 Post subject: Re: "Wal-Mart's"
PostPosted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 1:33 pm 
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Joined: Mon Apr 08, 2002 12:01 am
Posts: 1775
Location: Baltimore
I grew up with friends whose last name was Richard. Yes, folks had a tendency to add an "s" to the end of the name.<p>Someone not related to them had the same problem. The Rolling Stones' (is apostrophe proper?) guitarist, once known properly as Keith Richard, gave up on people getting his name right. He went to court to have it changed to Richards.<p>Surprised me that the rocker would go to court voluntarily without money being involved; guess this shows how annoying that extra "s" can be.


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