Letter to, and response from, WSJ

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:22 DT

Subject: Does the Journal have trouble with apostrophes, too?

Editors, Wall Street Journal

Gentlepeople:

A paragraph titled 'Thailand' in your fine Thursday, August 21 article "When [Olympic] Gold Turns Green" refers to a Thai weight lifter: "The 24-year-old is the countries lone gold of these Games."

"Countries"? Say it ain't so, WSJ. Since it's the possessive of "country" not a number of "countries", it should be "country's", not "countries".

Arnold H. Nelson 5056 North Marine Drive Chicago IL
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Date: Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:57 From: "Martin-Sr, Paul" To: ah_nelson@yahoo.com
Subject: RE: Does the Journal have trouble with apostrophes, too?

Mr. Nelson:

Thank you for your note about the misuse of “countries” for “country’s” in the Journal article.

We appreciate readers like you who hold us to high standards -- especially when their notes are as gracious as yours.

Sincerely, Paul Martin WSJ stylebook editor