strathspey@strathspey.org:44641

Carl Spain

Re: OT - singular or plural

March 12, 2006, 5:52 a.m. (Message 44641, in reply to message 44639)

On Sun, 2006-03-12 at 01:00 +0100, xxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx wrote:

> Part of this problem is political propaganda, in that by the common 
> political science definition of a state, the U.S. is one, and its 
> states, as those of Brazil, and Mexico, are really provinces no matter 
> what they call themselves. This is because they all fail step three of 
> a three step test.

This could be further complicated by the four states (Massachusetts,
Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky) that are officially designated
commonwealths rather than states.  There are historical reasons for the
designation, but the only real difference today is that it creates
opportunities to be pedantic (a favorite pastime of many of us on this
list) by saying (e.g.) "Oh, Virginia isn't a state.  It's a
commonwealth."

Carl Spain
Waco Texas (The state in this union whose residents are most likely to
take issue with Richard's statement that it is not sovereign; I've
generally found it best just to smile and nod.) USA