This posting is brought to you by the letter S

If you haven't already heard about this, let me call your attention to a bill passed in Arkansas. The state house has approved a resolution declaring the possessive form of the state's name to be Arkansas's. It's a nonbinding resolution, but still, it's nice to have such a weighty precedent.

I have never condoned the idea that adding an apostrophe to a proper noun ending in s makes it possessive, myself. Written as Arkansas', it clearly indicates that there is something called Arkansa. In this instance, there are two or more of these things -- make it plural by adding an s, and you have multiple Arkansas. (Julian Arkansa and his family live in St. Louis Heights. The Arkansas' house is very nice.)

A likely reason that the possessive was debated is because of the silent final s. But apostrophes aren't about spoken English. This is about written English. I certainly don't condone folks saying "Did you hear about Arkansawzes new bill?" It should still sound like "I hear Arkansaws legislature has a little time on their hands."

The letter S is not rare commodity -- no need to be stingy. Let a proper noun keep its own s.