On Tue, Mar 28, 2000 at 10:36:37AM -0800, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> On Tue, 28 Mar 2000, Doug Kaufman wrote:
>
> >Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2000 07:52:50 -0800 (PST)
> >From: Doug Kaufman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >Subject: Re: lynx-dev [PATCH] grammar correction to LYMessages_en
> >
> >On Tue, 28 Mar 2000, Ismael Cordeiro wrote:
> >
> >> On Mon, 27 Mar 2000, Larry W. Virden wrote:
> >>
> >> > Unfortunately, the URL's instead of URLs is a bug in many, MANY files in
> >> > the lynx distribution.
> >
> >Although it would be nice to be consistent throughout the code, I
> >am not sure why some are saying that "URL's" is incorrect grammar.
> >Leaving out the apostrophe seems to be a recent innovation. There
> >clearly would be no need for the apostrophe if it were "U.R.L.s",
> >but without the periods in the acronym, I believe that "URL's" falls
> >within the acceptable "non-possessive 's" rules as described in
> >Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage. Does anyone have a
> >citation to say that this is incorrect grammar?
>
> By that argument, it should be U'R'L's.
>
> At least it sounds like you're using it in the "left out letters" sense.
>
> I say change them all to URLs.
>
I agree. Because URL is all uppercase, then there's no
ambiguity with the lower-case "s", which, in this case,
obviously denotes (right word?) "plural".
I do have one other book I like, by the same guy who
did "modern legal usage" (obvious play on Fowler's book),
who recently did "modern american usage" -- it's around somewhere,
in all this mess, but I couldn't find it in a 5 minute search...
David
PS: seems like there are several books of that title, "modern
american usage", one by Wilson Follett (which I see just to
my right), as well as this newer one that I cannot locate
just now...
