gcc brace enclosed initializer problem

[Jack Marr <marr at ugs dot com>]

We are getting an error due to superfluous braces in an initializer with 
g++ 3.3.3.  The error is seen here:

% cat brace-enclosed-init.c
int main(void)
{
const char *menu[] =
           {
                   { "How now" },
                   { "Brown cow?" },
           };

           return 0;
}

% g++ -c brace-enclosed-init.c
brace-enclosed-init.c: In function `int main()':
brace-enclosed-init.c:7: error: brace-enclosed initializer used to
initialize `const char*'
brace-enclosed-init.c:7: error: brace-enclosed initializer used to
initialize `const char*'

We acknowledge that the braces are not needed, but it's not apparent why 
this should be an *error* rather than a mere warning as it is when the 
same code is compiled with gcc.  We've squinted at ISO 14882 section 
8.5.1 (dcl.init.aggr), but haven't seen why this should be an *error*. 
I understand that gcc/g++ is sometimes more standards compliant than 
other compilers, but we're not sure if this is the case here, and 
thought this might actually be a g++ bug.

--
     Jack Marr (marr@ugs.com)
     UGS -- Development Environment Tools
     Cypress, CA  "Ite Ursi"