5 ms·
Trader Joe's presents an interesting punctuation problem. The most common rule, I think, for forming possessives is rule #1 of Strunk and White: "Form the poss
by SeanLuke 5y ago
Trader Joe's presents an interesting punctuation problem. The most common rule, I think, for forming possessives is rule #1 of Strunk and White: "Form the possessive singular of nouns with 's. Follow this rule whatever the final consonant." But Trader Joe's already has an apostrophe. Should the proper writing of this headline should have been...
Where in the World are Trader Joe's's Warehouses?
Or should it have been...
Where in the World are Trader Joes's Warehouses?
- mindslight 5y agoTrader Joe owns the stores, and he also owns the warehouses.
- netizen-936824 5y agoI think this option makes the most sense, rather than treating "Trader Joe's" as one unit that has different rules than normal language
- SeanLuke 5y agoA reasonable parsing at the time of the article I suppose (2016), but not today: Trader Joe (Joe Coulombe) cannot possibly own warehouses, as he died in 2020.
- mindslight 5y agoTrader Joe lives on in spirit, along with Trader José and Trader Giotto.
- alksjdalkj 5y ago"Trader Joe's" could also be being used as an adjective in this headline right?
- SeanLuke 5y agoYes, but that would change the intended meaning of the headline.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- Jxl180 5y agoIf we swap it with Amazon, it sounds correct to say “where are Amazon’s warehouses?” But is it really incorrect to say, “where are Amazon warehouses?”
- SeanLuke 5y agoI dunno. It sounds wrong to say "where are Safeway warehouses?" -- it sounds more appropriate to have instead said "where are the Safeway warehouses?"
- browningstreet 5y agoI think there's a rule you don't repeat punctuations like this... one is enough.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- jimmygrapes 5y agoI have always wondered how Stunk and White would handle Carl's Jr.