Night flying in the mountians in a cessna 150,

Gig 601XL Builder wrote:

But we are talking about a proper noun. If my last name meant "many good
looking people" in Italian and you invited my family and I to your house you
wouldn't say "Damn we are lucky enough to have the Giacona coming over
tonight." You would say, "Damn we are lucky enough to have the Giaconas
coming over tonight. We better get more wine."

But you would never say "the Appalachian ranges." For the same reason, you
should never say "the Sierras" when you're talking about the Sierra Nevada.

George Patterson
I prefer Heaven for climate but Hell for company.

"George Patterson" wrote in message
...
But you would never say "the Appalachian ranges." For the same reason, you
should never say "the Sierras" when you're talking about the Sierra
Nevada.

If we were speaking Spanish, and we were speaking only of some generic
"sierra", that would be correct. However, you cannot apply the original
rules to words borrowed from other languages and expect them to still make
sense in English (in this case...this isn't particular to English),
especially when the borrowed word becomes a proper noun. A borrowed word,
in the language that borrowed it, inherets brand new rules, completely
independent of the original language from whence it came.

I have about as many language pet peeves as anyone, but IMHO this is one
that the owner's of said pet peeve just need to get over already.

Pete