--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, t3rinity <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > Please Barry, I was referring to the German use. Here again: > > Apostrophe is correct for German possessive (genitive) > > Example: Michael's Brief > > Correct English: Michaels post. > > The mixed English German, Michaels Brief, formerly wrong has > > now been labeled as acceptable use in the Duden. Both Michaels > > Brief and Michael's Brief are correct now - in German. > > I stand corrected, but really...how sad.
Yes. There is a certain amount of awareness though, mainly through a guy called Bastian Sick http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastian_Sick 'Sick wrote three books on common German grammatical mistakes, that were critically acclaimed for their humour[1] and have become very popular in Germany.[2] The titles of the books called Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod (literally The Dative is the Genitive its Death) use puns employing the his genitive, which in official German is incorrect and often considered unaesthetic, instead of the correct genitive case.' We were very much americanized after the war, maybe more than other European nations, for some time our country was virtually non-existent, then the Americans re-educated us. Besides that, German as a language is hard to sing, so through music and advertisement english is omnipresent in Germany. > One thing you've got to say for the French is > that they *protect their language*. Learning > to use it properly is basically the foundation > of their educational system, and a French per- > song who *doesn't* use it properly is viewed > with a certain amount of disdain by other French. Surely very different. But then, French don't like to speak anything else than french, Germans do like to learn other languages.
