apostrophes

[laika]

And as for that book - "Eat's Shoots and Leaves" - Eeks, Shouts and Raves more like. It is rant and twaddle from an uneducated mind.

You have entered the realm of meta pedantry leaving a solitary "VHF" example to maintain a tenuous link to boaty relevance and apparently overlooking an opportunity to discuss similarities of and pertinent differences between Fowler and Cockcroft presented by alan_d's post #65

 

[nigelmercier]

Otherwise its I or me as you say, and I have never heard of this "polite" substitution.

Neither have I, it's twaddle. It could be a regional thing I guess.

 

[VO5]

"Tom and I" and " these rules are for you and me" You can use "I" to be polite. However, why do some people on here like to pick up on spelling mistakes or the misuse of the odd apostrophe? If we can understand what people are writing, why get hung up about it

Because it is not proper: It grates on one's sensibilities.
Mashed English is simply awful, that's why.

 

[bikerbill]

Lovin' this thread Ever tried to de-cypher a text message from a teenager?

 

[VO5]

I don't know . Possibly.

As a practical forum, we are at least giving this thread some real meaning now.

The question has to be asked :-

Has an abused apostrophe ever caused loss of life or injury ?

Google suggests not.

From personal experience, self assembly mail order bicycles and wardrobes have been innocent victims of poorly constructed instructions. Both with content and grammatical construction. There is no doubt that this has led to personal injury . Particularly on Christmas mornings.

This leads to a further unanswered question :-

Does the apostrophe system need overhauling ?

I think the answer has to be yes.

Any ideas how this could be done ?

Well, you know there is such an organisation as The Apostrophe Society...
They could be approached for ideas one supposes.
They were very active with regard to the grammatical transgressions perpetrated by the press.
The daily papers were a target of preference for them.
They were bombarded with terse complaints with regard to serious misdemeanours such as the misuse of the apostrophe, the incorrect use of the colon and the semi colon and the inappropriate insertion of inverted commas and similar grammatical transgressions.
And this was only ten years ago, so I would think by now they would have a website though I confess I have not checked.

 

[VO5]

Lovin' this thread Ever tried to de-cypher a text message from a teenager?

No, I am not focused on that.
I am a fan of Unwinese.
And I like to comment in the language casually within earshot of people whose grasp of it is virtually non existent, just to secretly enjoy their perplexity.
The trouble is that SWMBO gives the game away before it starts by giggling uncontrollably.
It makes the targeted listener suspicious I suspect.

 

[chewi]

No, I am not focused on that.
I am a fan of Unwinese.
And I like to comment in the language casually within earshot of people whose grasp of it is virtually non existent, just to secretly enjoy their perplexity.
The trouble is that SWMBO gives the game away before it starts by giggling uncontrollably.
It makes the targeted listener suspicious I suspect.

'swell good innit blood? Yu na wot I'm saying? Yay! ;-)

 

[Amulet]

I think you'll find that greengrocers' apostrophes are officially an endangered species, and that if you drop your anchor among them you can have your privileges cut off.

 

[bikerbill]

No, I am not focused on that.
I am a fan of Unwinese.
And I like to comment in the language casually within earshot of people whose grasp of it is virtually non existent, just to secretly enjoy their perplexity.
The trouble is that SWMBO gives the game away before it starts by giggling uncontrollably.
It makes the targeted listener suspicious I suspect.

We tried to imitate Stanley's language without success. My boss is out of the office just now, so gonna have a look on youtube

 

[chewi]

We tried to imitate Stanley's language without success. My boss is out of the office just now, so gonna have a look on youtube

Whats with the "Stanley" then? It's Professor Unwin to you.

 

[bikerbill]

Neither have I, it's twaddle. It could be a regional thing I guess.

It's because us Scot's speak betterery at talkerdydo (poor attempt at Unwinese)

 

[Amulet]

Ha! Oops! Quite right! I would not of course write 'This data suggest that'!! It's easy to make a fool of yourself in these exchanges isn't it!


(I have changed my original post so now your response won't make sense!!)

If making sense were a requirement there'd be a lot less from me on the forums. I often suffer from premature articulation. Type the words before engaging the brain.

 

[VO5]

We tried to imitate Stanley's language without success. My boss is out of the office just now, so gonna have a look on youtube

It takes some practice if you are comfortabable square on the bottisit to learnabole the intrickeries of the diadodode...Oh Joy ! Marbelode !

For dedicated scholars of Unwinese there is an online Unwinese Dictionary available.

 

[Graham_Wright]

"I" instead of "me"?

So I should be saying "I got it off of I mate."?

 

[nigelmercier]

Well, you know there is such an organisation as The Apostrophe Society...
... I would think by now they would have a website though I confess I have not checked.

http://www.apostrophe.org.uk/

 

[laika]

http://www.apostrophe.org.uk/

w3c validator shows 2 errors and 2 warnings for the front page. And (self consciously beginning a sentence with a conjunction for a specific stylistic effect)..what font is that in their welcome image? And (as before) would anyone honestly take advice on style from people who apparently take their idea of best practice from Geocities??

Edit: hmm...no boaty content at all. mea culpa. won't do it again...

 

[Spirit of Glenans]

fora?

Plural of the noun "forum" which has neuter gender.(AFAIR )

 

[Spirit of Glenans]

"Tom and I" and " these rules are for you and me" You can use "I" to be polite. However, why do some people on here like to pick up on spelling mistakes or the misuse of the odd apostrophe? If we can understand what people are writing, why get hung up about it

See post no 31.

 

[chal]

Less is the singular form of fewer.

Is that correct? I'd have called less a comparative adjective - it's the comparative form of little which in English is irregular (little-less-least). Fewer is the corresponding (regular) comparative of few. "Rules" like "fewer for plurals" are only really mnemonics.

My excuse for making this contribution is that I have a bad back, so time on my hands. That being the case:

I'm both old and old-fashioned - I regard "to boldly split infinitives where no man has split them before" as a decent joke. I accept that all grammatical rules are probably conventions that change over time. Who really cares now whether the possessive should be used with the gerund? On that basis there could be an argument for simplifying the use of apostrophes (I suppose). On the other hand, I think using "I" where "me" is correct should lead to the perpetrator being forcibly marched to the nearest cash point and made to pay an on-the-spot fine (doubled if they are an English teacher).

 

[Plevier]

Who really cares now whether the possessive should be used with the gerund?


(doubled if they are an English teacher).

Ah yes I approve of your raising the gerund. See

http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/t501/Julian_Hodgkin/gerund.jpg (N Molesworth of course)



but "... if they are an ..." ???

Oi! Ref! Foul!

PS The BBC should say every night "Here ARE the news." (cf data mentioned earlier)