AP News, March 14th, 2007
Arkansas' grammar got a tweak on Tuesday _ or rather, Arkansas's grammar did.
Legislators will send Gov. Mike Beebe a resolution declaring "Arkansas's" the proper possessive form of the state's name, but the governor is way ahead of them. His office began using the additional "s" in news releases Monday, said spokesman Matt DeCample.
In what became a grammatical Gordian knot, the Arkansas Senate supported the resolution Tuesday after the House passed it the week before. The Senate vote came after a few groans and an introduction on the history of "the much-debated apostrophe-s" by state Sen. Jim Hill.
"This thing is seeded in history," Hill said, lamenting the lack of enthusiasm on the Senate floor. "I expected more intelligent questions than this."
After Arkansas became a state in 1836, confusion remained on its spelling and its pronunciation, as many maps from the time spelled it without its final "s." A resolution by the Legislature in 1881 formalized its current spelling and pronunciation, making its final "s" silent.
Rep. Steve Harrelson carried the resolution on behalf of Parker Westbrook, who describes himself as a "longtime practical Arkansas historian." On Tuesday, Westbrook described the Senate vote as a vindication for his long-held view.
"We've waited 126 years for this," he said. "This adds, shall we say, legitimacy."
The Associated Press Stylebook calls for singular proper names ending in "s" to have only an apostrophe. Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style" calls for following the apostrophe with the letter "s," unless using it with an ancient name.
Harrelson apologized several times to legislators after the attention the bill received but said Tuesday he had no regrets. He added that he doesn't plan to offer additional grammar bills in the future.
