Steve Holden <st...@holdenweb.com> writes: > 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.
I'd thought that the main schism was triggered by a tax on tea but it turns out that it was due to an apostrophe after t. ;-) -- Pete Forman -./\.- Disclaimer: This post is originated WesternGeco -./\.- by myself and does not represent pete.for...@westerngeco.com -./\.- the opinion of Schlumberger or http://petef.22web.net -./\.- WesternGeco. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
