Read the following aloud without the double-s sound, and realize how wrong you are: "Chris's mess destroyed Charles's town."
A sophisticate would never construct a sentence in that way.
I suppose, then, that any example I could construct to expose this sophistry of yours would be deemed unsophisticated.
I'll go against my better judgment and delve a little deeper, because this thread is not yet worthless enough. As someone whose name does end with the letter
s, I have paid attention to this particular grammatical detail for a long time. The simple truth is that nobody has ever uttered the possessive form of my name in my presence without the "double
s" sound you hold in contempt (actually -
əz). Even though I once preferred to use the single-apostrophe construct when writing, it simply doesn't hold up to the aural test.
Most names ending in
s end with either an
s sound, or a
z sound. My observation is that Wes and Nicholas require the extra -
əz syllable, while James and Charles could possibly go without, as a matter of preference. Clearly, waks fits into the first category.
kono
