Larry,

I would think that an inscription -- particularly on a bell tower -- would strongly encourage conformity to Latin, rather than to web usage; it's as if the minute you take a chisel to stone, you're required to use hyperformal register, and that includes worrying about Latin case suffixes. I've never seen a university using abbreviations on stone, but "shall" appears with worrying frequency. And if you have a Classics department, you will never, *ever* hear the end of the matter if you don't get the Latin right. That entire field is oriented toward the idea of never giving up.

Sincerely,

Bill Spruiell


-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar on behalf of Larry Beason
Sent: Fri 12/18/2009 1:56 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: plural of "Chair pro tempore"
 
Dear Colleagues:

Before my school inscribes a phrase (literally to be set in stone) onto our new bell tower, they want to check the plural form of "Chair pro tempore."

According to general convention of how to form plural with titles, I would assume the major term/noun should receive the pluralization marker (thus, "chairs pro tempore"), as done with "Queens of England" or "mothers-in-law".

But the Latin phrase muddles the issue.   Looking at various documents on the web and how they create the plurals of "pro tempore," I'm seeing far more uses of "chair pro tempores" (not to mention a handful of "chairs pros tempore").

Does anyone have any insight on this matter?  I don't think it's so much a matter of Latin rules as it is a matter of conventions for English terms that hijack Latin. The last time I dealt with such a construction and question, I recommended we the follow the convention that most colleges follow (I've forgotten the term in question before).  

Larry

Larry Beason
Associate Professor & Composition Director
Dept. of English, 240 HUMB
Univ. of South Alabama
Mobile AL 36688
(251) 460-7861

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