Ben Finney wrote: > James Stroud <jstr...@mbi.ucla.edu> writes: > >> Ben Finney wrote: >>> James Stroud <jstr...@mbi.ucla.edu> writes: >>> >>>> Yes. I think it was the British who decided that the apostrophe >>>> rule for "it" would be reversed from normal usage relative to >>>> just about every other noun. > > It also seems an indefensible claim to say that anyone “decided” it > would be that way, especially “the British”. > It's our language, dammit! Ours, ours, ours!
This decision was actually taken at a meeting of the Society of British pedants on November 23, 1786. This led to a schism between the British and the newly-independent Americans, who responded by taking the "u" out of colour, valour, and aluminium. >>> Remember that “it” is a pronoun. I see no reversal: >> Ok. Pronouns are reversed. > > Or, more generally: Pronouns, which are different in just about every > other way from other nouns, are different in this way also. Is that > about right? > Just think of them as "nounpros" and you won't go wrong. regards Steve -- Steve Holden +1 571 484 6266 +1 800 494 3119 Holden Web LLC http://www.holdenweb.com/ -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
