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10-08-2014, 11:56 AM
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Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Belmont MA
Posts: 4,802
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OK, thanks everyone!
Although I have some residual uneasiness (almost always do...), the "It was good enough for T.S. Eliot, it ought to be good enough for you" argument won me over.
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10-08-2014, 01:51 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: San Diego, CA, USA
Posts: 8,358
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Last edited by Julie Steiner; 10-08-2014 at 01:53 PM.
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10-08-2014, 02:13 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Minneapolis
Posts: 2,380
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My 1967 Webster's gives "possum" without any qualification as "backwoodsy," "rednecky," or "southron." In Texas, we used to go to Possum Kingdom Lake, a curving, 60-mile long enlargement of the Brazos River west of Weatherford. I would somewhat huffily characterize "opossum" as "zoological," or "pedantic, used for humorous effect."
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10-08-2014, 02:18 PM
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Member
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Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Breaux Bridge, LA, USA
Posts: 3,491
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Not only was "possum" good enough for Eliot, it's also good enough for the Possum Growers and Breeders Association of America, Inc, who encourage more appreciation for these ubiquitous marsupials.
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10-08-2014, 04:06 PM
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Administrator
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Middle England
Posts: 6,955
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Quote:
Apologies to our friends from across the pond for this one. I will try to come up with a hedgehog question someday to balance it out.
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No apologies necessary, Mike.
At least you didn't write "an hedgehog". Some Brits now put ''an'' before words beginning with ''h'', so we get constructions such as "There was an horrendous accident''... that resulted in lots of people going to "an hospital''.
But then, some Brits use ''an'' because they drop their aitches altogether: "I went to an 'ospital", or "I stayed in an 'otel".
(Unfortunately there is also the frequently-heard " Haitch", when someone is spelling out a word. That sets my teeth on edge.)
A possum √ a hotel √ a hospital √ all look right to me
Jayne
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10-09-2014, 02:42 AM
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Member
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Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Old South Wales (UK)
Posts: 6,682
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I woke in the small hours wishing I hadn't written this, so I unwrote it.
Last edited by Ann Drysdale; 10-11-2014 at 04:04 AM.
Reason: a sort of confused regret.
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10-09-2014, 08:51 AM
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Member
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Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Paris, France
Posts: 5,398
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Michael, if you are still in doubt, you could use the apostrophe solution, 'possum, which shows that you are neither a stiff-necked pedant, nor a red-necked ignoramus.
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10-09-2014, 09:02 AM
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Member
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Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Denver
Posts: 317
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Pogo was a possum, not an oppossum. No apologies, no apostrophes. Of course he did live in the Okefenokee.
RHE
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10-09-2014, 10:19 AM
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Member
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Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: New York
Posts: 16,501
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According to this article, the opossum and the possum are two different animals.
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10-09-2014, 10:52 AM
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Member
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Sweden
Posts: 14,175
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Just to keep confusion percolating.
My copy of "Latin Names Explained: A Guide to the Scientific Classification of Reptiles, Birds & Mammals" (A.F. Gotch) says:
There tends to be confusion about the two names 'opossum' and 'possum'; there is no significance in the different names, though 'possum' was probably first used in America for the opossums of the family Didelphidae. Captain James Cook was said to have first used this abbreviated form and it is sometimes used in Australia for those in the family Phalangeridae. The expression 'playing possum' alludes to the animal's habit of lying on its back and presending to be dead when in danger from predators,
In the descriptions of each subspecies, some names include 'possum' and some 'opossum'.
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