2 Responses to “Christmas Cards: The Ultimate Holiday Humiliators”

1. 

   November 27, 2011 at 9:10 pm

   Wish you'd addressed last names ending in a Z in this. Happy Holidays from the Gonzalezes? the Gonzalezs? the Gonzali? That would help a large segment of the population at least here in Texas. I believe I know the answer, but this podcast would have been the logical place to address it.
2. 

   November 28, 2011 at 11:02 pm

   Hmmm. You're right. I should've included that. Here's what I would have said:

   To form the plural of a last name ending in Z, add ES.
   One Gonzalez, two Gonzalezes.
   So, yes, it's: Happy holidays from the Gonzalezes.

   To make just one possessive, add apostrophe and S (the major styles all seem to prefer this now over adding just the apostrophe).
   Mr. Gonzalez's house (instead of Mr. Gonzalez' house, though this S-less form may still be preferred by some).

   To make the plural into a possessive, as always, just add the apostrophe.
   The Gonzalezes' new house.

   (While I like your Gonzali idea, it's similar to the Prii plural of Prius idea, which I wrote about in this older blog post: ).

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