The invisible S

[dougo]

I was taught that the possessive form of a singular noun should always end with apostrophe + s. It was considered uncouth but permissible to leave off the s after the apostrophe if the noun ended in s, but the invisible s at the end was always pronounced, such as in the old advertising slogan "Thomas' promises". But lately I've been noticing that people (on TV) have been dropping the s even in pronunciation: "Katie Holmes' baby", "Britney Spears' divorce", "Michael Richards' career". I realize that language rules are descriptive not prescriptive, and the fact that it's already widely accepted in mass media means it will probably become the new rule, but I still find it grating and I wish I could reverse the tide.

Edit: I just realized my examples all have a "z" sound at the end, whereas "Thomas" does not. But I've also heard people pronounce "Jesus'" without the invisible s. (Wikipedia, quoting Hart's Rules, calls this "an accepted liturgical archaism" but I think that only applies to the spelling, not pronunciation.)

Comments

[lauradi7.livejournal.com]

Rule # 1 in The Elements of Style (dissed a lot in the past few years, but still widely quoted)is "Form the possessive singular of nouns by adding 's. They specifically exempt Moses, Jesus, and other -s holy people (like Isis) and say it's better to say "the laws of Moses" or something like that. Then they go on to emphasize the correct spelling of hers and its and the like.