alt.possessive.its.has.no.apostrophe

[Pete Forman]

Steve Holden <steve at holdenweb.com> writes:

 > Ben Finney wrote:
>> James Stroud <jstroud at mbi.ucla.edu> writes:
>> 
>>> Ben Finney wrote:
>>>> James Stroud <jstroud at 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.forman at westerngeco.com    -./\.-   the opinion of Schlumberger or
http://petef.22web.net           -./\.-   WesternGeco.