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OT: Apostrophe's

Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 10:57 am
by brightonalex
Does this subject line drive anyone else into a rage?

Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 11:00 am
by substance_g
Ye's!

Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 11:02 am
by sweetjesus
the best quote i heard regarding apostrophes was something like ..

'an apostrophe doesn't mean holy shit here comes an S!'

Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 11:02 am
by snakedogman
I could care less

(pun intended)

Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 11:06 am
by andydes
Whats you're problem?

Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 11:29 am
by kinkajou
andydes wrote:Whats you're problem?
:lol:

that's really funny... there are more thing's po'ssible with apostrophe's... can't imagine... 8O

and i thought it's only a problem in germany... 8) :D

Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 11:39 am
by polyslax
snakedogman wrote:I could care less

(pun intended)

:x

One of my pet peeves. I never understood how could somehow magically became equated with couldn't.

Saying nuclear George Bush style (newk-ya-ler) is certainly in my top five as well.

Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 12:01 pm
by andydes
polyslax wrote:
snakedogman wrote:I could care less

(pun intended)

:x

One of my pet peeves. I never understood how could somehow magically became equated with couldn't.

Saying nuclear George Bush style (newk-ya-ler) is certainly in my top five as well.
Don't forget the the war on terrrrrr.

Uh, so "could care less" is now the same as "couldn't care less"? Why wasn't I informed? I thought it was supposed to mean "I care a bit".

Is this the case for all uses of "could"? That could get very confusing. Or maybe it couldn't. Arghhhh!

Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 12:05 pm
by Ajbbklyn
So, if a double negative equals a positive, then it's not possible for a double positive to equal a negative.

Yeah... right...

Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 12:16 pm
by robbmasters
My local pub even had an ad for a D'J. They just had to put an apostrophe somewhere!

Surprisingly, an apostrophe is valid when talking about plurals of letters (see Fowler's Modern English Usage) e.g. "there are two p's in Mississippi". But this doesn't extend to DJs (or the 80s).

Edit: And anyone who knows me would find it apt that my 1000th post was on a point of grammatical pedantry. ;)

Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 12:27 pm
by hambone1
How sad. This is an international forum.

I'd like to see some of the Yanks/Brits/Canucks/Aussies communicate with perfect punctuation, spelling and grammar in a language other than their native tongue! Most of them can't even do it in English... :oops:

.

Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 12:31 pm
by brightonalex
hambone1 wrote:How sad. This is an international forum.

I'd like to see some of the Yanks/Brits/Canucks/Aussies communicate with perfect punctuation, spelling and grammar in a language other than their native tongue! Most of them can't even do it in English... :oops:
The foreigners need to try harder Hambone.

Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 12:34 pm
by robbmasters
I can't speak for anyone else, but it certainly wasn't my intention to criticise those who don't have English as their first language. Neither am I particularly bothered by the standard of grammar on a web forum.

However, it's no surprise that standards of English are falling when you see the schoolboy errors that professional marketeers, journalists, newsreaders, authors, copywriters, etc. surround us with.

Oh no! I've ended that sentence with a preposition. ;)

Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 12:43 pm
by forge
Ajbbklyn wrote:So, if a double negative equals a positive, then it's not possible for a double positive to equal a negative.

Yeah... right...
that's called phase cancellation round here

Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 12:47 pm
by Ajbbklyn
hambone1 wrote:How sad. This is an international forum.

I'd like to see some of the Yanks/Brits/Canucks/Aussies communicate with perfect punctuation, spelling and grammar in a language other than their native tongue! Most of them can't even do it in English... :oops:
Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
5 Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne,
And smale foweles maken melodye,
10 That slepen al the nyght with open eye-
(So priketh hem Nature in hir corages);
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages
And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes
To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
15 And specially from every shires ende
Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende,
The hooly blisful martir for to seke
That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seeke.