On the first Sunday of every month, a friendly throng gathers at Gilmore’s store in Simplex Pond, Maine. Its subjects range from politics to ice cream flavor. The agenda is to have no agenda, but on this afternoon Gilmore tossed out a question, “What is good about Spanish?”
Puzzled, we looked at each other for some time before Derek mentioned “its melodious tone.” The scholarly Philip commented on several authors from Spain. Matt compared it to English.
“No,” said Gilmore, “it has no apostrophe.”
Some shook their heads; others laughed, but we all waited for an explanation. His support was on paper and he handed each of us a copy. It read: “If I were to say: ‘I gave the girls money; I gave the girl’s money; I gave the girls’ money;’ then you would have to see them written to know the meaning of each.”
The apostrophe shows ownership, but it can also appear in contractions, Gilmore said. For example, It’s cold so the kitten wears its mittens.
Look at these sentences, he went on to say: There are four i’s in Mississippi; his 1’s look like his 7’s; she has trouble pronouncing her the’s. You can correctly write Hercules’ labors, Hercules’s labors, or the labors of Hercules, but never write the labors of Hercules’. Hercule’s labors is a no-no. Finally, Gilmore asked us all, do you enjoy Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musicals?
We finished the reading, and I think it was Eli who joked, “I’m moving to Spain.”
Morton Soule teaches Latin at Cape Elizabeth High School. He can be reached at mortsoule@gmail.com.
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