Hi, Dallas!  Recently you quoted in a message to Everett Hertenstein:

>>  Since that time, the name has traditionally been called
>>  "Down syndrome" in North America (note that "syndrome"
>>  isn't capitalized). However, the change has taken longer
>>  to occur in Great Britain and other parts of Europe, for
>>  reasons that aren't quite clear to me.


          Ah... now I get it!  I knew one spelling was supposedly British
& the other American, but couldn't remember which was which.  The
American version is (predictably) shorter.  Canadians (also predictably)
accept either.  My initial reaction was that Dr. Leshin, who is apparently
an American, doesn't understand how things are Over There.  It takes a lot
longer than forty years to establish a "tradition", and things
won't change just because a few people from SomePlace Else... from a
relatively young country in particular... believe they "should".

          A detailed examination of this article makes it even more clear
to me why other folks might be reluctant to abandon the possessive.  Until
the 1960's
... i.e. the same period when linguists were saying dictionaries should be
more descriptive & less prescriptive... "mongolism" was
widely used.  There was much debate in the scientific community about this
term, however, as a result of the expanding social consciousness of the
era.  The editors of THE LANCET agreed to use "Down's syndrome"
instead, and WHO stopped using the term "mongolism".  But thus
far the debate had focused on what *not* to do.

          Ten years later some of the participants at the NIH conference
wanted to standardize eponymous spellings.  Apparently 1974 wasn't a very
good time to introduce new rules, however.  My survey of five medical
dictionaries published since that time does not support Dr. Leshin's
assertion that "Down syndrome" is the established terminology in
North America.  The Canadian Medical Association says "Down's",
as does all but one of four US publications I consulted....  :-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+