#191722 - 06/30/10 01:17 PM
City and Country names ending with "s"
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newbie
Registered: 11/12/00
Posts: 33
Loc: Eastern North Carolina, US
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There are a lot of cities and countries with names ending in s preceded by a vowel, but very few with a consonant preceding the s. Examples: Netherlands, Brussels,New Orleans, Cowpens SC, Solomons aka Solomons Island (without apostrophe) MD
If I am right and my list above is nearly complete,why are there so few?
Also in most of the above the s at the end sounds either like a possessive or a plural, but when preceded by a vowel, for example, Annapolis and St Louis it does not suggest a plural or a possessive.
(Or is it my imagination?)
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#191723 - 06/30/10 04:23 PM
Re: City and Country names ending with "s"
[Re: CarlAdler]
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 06/23/06
Posts: 5249
Loc: Netherlands, the Hague
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Brussels may be Brussels to you but it's Brussel to us. The there's Oss, Barbados, Kos, Lesbos, Rennes, Tours, Burgos, Troyes, Picos, Neuss. When you look at maps there are a lot more, but could be they are comparatively in the minority.
(The Netherlands' S stands for plural,twelve provinces)
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#191725 - 06/30/10 06:07 PM
Re: City and Country names ending with "s"
[Re: BranShea]
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 06/23/08
Posts: 5291
Loc: Land of the Flat Water
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Des Moines
Los Angeles
Paris
Athens
Buenos Aires
St.V and Grenadines
Honduras
Texas
Kansas
Illinois
_________________________
----please, draw me a sheep----
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#191734 - 07/01/10 10:34 AM
Re: City and Country names ending with "s"
[Re: olly]
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newbie
Registered: 11/12/00
Posts: 33
Loc: Eastern North Carolina, US
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I was not referring to Solomon Islands but to
Solomons Island, Maryland
also known as
Solomons, Maryland
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#191735 - 07/01/10 10:41 AM
Re: City and Country names ending with "s"
[Re: LukeJavan8]
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newbie
Registered: 11/12/00
Posts: 33
Loc: Eastern North Carolina, US
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I guess, I was not clear in what I was asking and chose a poor wording for the Subject Heading. But you list 10 place names ending with s. Nine of them have the s preceded by a vowel. Only one (Athens) has a consonant before the s. That was really what I was asking. In place names ending with s why is the s almost always preceded by a vowel?
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#191737 - 07/01/10 11:28 AM
Re: City and Country names ending with "s"
[Re: CarlAdler]
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 06/23/08
Posts: 5291
Loc: Land of the Flat Water
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Gotcha.
Did not understand your question, to which I do not know the answer. ( I was musing this AM and had a few more: Tunis,
Philippines, Galapagos, Maldives: yet they are all in your
category: s preceded by a vowel.) Luck to you, hope someone
has an answer. It may be a quirk of language, but I bet there
is a sensible answer.
_________________________
----please, draw me a sheep----
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#191741 - 07/01/10 12:16 PM
Re: City and Country names ending with "s"
[Re: BranShea]
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 06/23/08
Posts: 5291
Loc: Land of the Flat Water
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Map lover here too!
In the state I live in theres:
Hoskins, Chambers, Saunders, Falls City,Hastings, Clarks, Cedar
Rapids, Enders, Hay Springs - and that's just a cursory glance.
There are also the vowel before s share like Curtis and Cowles.
_________________________
----please, draw me a sheep----
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#191742 - 07/01/10 01:24 PM
Re: City and Country names ending with "s"
[Re: LukeJavan8]
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newbie
Registered: 11/12/00
Posts: 33
Loc: Eastern North Carolina, US
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Well based on all the posts maybe I am simply wrong. Certainly it would appear that it is not true for cities in Scandinavian countries. So maybe it only seems to be true in English speaking countries.But I found 18 countries ending in s and other than three ending with suffixes "lands" all have a vowel preceding s.
SO I like you believe there "is a sensible answer."
However, it can't be important and I thank all of you for taking the time to answer.
FYI I got into this when I discovered that Solomons, Maryland was named after a man named Solomon and wondered where the "s" came from.
Carl
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