Apostrophe crimes

[jdaw1]

my wifes birthday creating double trouble!

Make that a triple.

[benread]

my wifes birthday creating double trouble!

Make that a triple.

Are there no allowances made for 6.19am on a Wednesday, particularly for those deprived of sleep by a 5 week old?!

[jdaw1]

Are there no allowances made for 6.19am on a Wednesday, particularly for those deprived of sleep by a 5 week old?!

The defence quietly omitted to mention half a bottle of 1987 Delaforce Quinta da Corte.

[benread]

Are there no allowances made for 6.19am on a Wednesday, particularly for those deprived of sleep by a 5 week old?!

The defence quietly omitted to mention half a bottle of 1987 Delaforce Quinta da Corte.

It is not clear if that is being accepted as evidence for the defence or used against me by the prosecution?!

[jdaw1]

It isn’t an apostrophe crime, but the following story slightly gladdened a pedant’s heart.

Tesco is to change the wording of signs on its fast-track checkouts to avoid any linguistic dispute.

The supermarket giant is to replace its current "10 items or less" notices with signs saying "Up to 10 items".

Tesco's move follows uncertainty over whether the current notices should use "fewer" instead of "less".

The new wording was suggested to Tesco by language watchdog The Plain English Campaign. Tesco said the change would be phased in across its stores.

"Saying up to 10 items is easy to understand and avoids any debate," said a spokesman for The Plain English Campaign.

"Fewer" should be used when you are talking about items that can be counted individually, for example, "fewer than 10 apples".

"Less" is correct when quantities cannot be individually counted in that case, e.g. "I would like less water".

Tesco is the UK's largest supermarket group with 2,106 outlets across the country.

It only slightly gladdens my heart because there is no uncertainty over whether the current notices should use "fewer" instead of "less". It should be “fewer†. The gladdening is further lessened by the use of two consecutive prepositions (“Up to 10 items†), but I’ll take such scraps as I am thrown.

[Glenn E.]

I wonder if they're aware that they just lowered the item limit for the lines?

[Luc]

English not being my 1st language , all I can say is : Tabarnouche

[JacobH]

As non-apostrophic pedantry seems to be becoming allowable, I indite jdaw1 for the following abuse of the double negative:

I can’t get no satisfaction

[jdaw1]

As non-apostrophic pedantry seems to be becoming allowable, I indite jdaw1 for the following abuse of the double negative:

I can’t get no satisfaction

Perhaps the song to which that refers is older than you. I think that I have fairly quoted something that has become part of the language.

Also the “wrote here wrote† suggests that you haven’t quite mastered the quotation technology.

[JacobH]

As non-apostrophic pedantry seems to be becoming allowable, I indite jdaw1 for the following abuse of the double negative:

I can’t get no satisfaction

Perhaps the song to which that refers is older than you. I think that I have fairly quoted something that has become part of the language.

I believe, judging by the wikipedia entry, it’s evens as to whether it would be older than DRT. However, that aside, surely the argument that it “has become part of the language† is a dangerous one, unless one wishes to boldly go to a society free of language pedants…

[DRT]

I believe, judging by the wikipedia entry, it’s evens as to whether it would be older than DRT.

On the assumption that it is this wiki entry you are talking about it seems I am 3 months older than the song. That is if you go by the release date rather than the date it was written or recorded.

I can't get no 1965 VP.

[jdaw1]

the song to which that refers

this

DRT’s wiki entry forwards to mine. So other than providing the same content and being slower to load, I’m not quite sure what advantages it is purported to provide. My ignorance — no problem.

[DRT]

the song to which that refers

this

DRT’s wiki entry forwards to mine. So other than providing the same content and being slower to load, I’m not quite sure what advantages it is purported to provide. My ignorance — no problem.

It adds time to allow a sip of VP between web pages.

[KillerB]

the song to which that refers

this

DRT’s wiki entry forwards to mine. So other than providing the same content and being slower to load, I’m not quite sure what advantages it is purported to provide. My ignorance — no problem.

It adds time to allow a sip of VP between web pages.

If you go for the Devo version it is "I Can't Get Me No Satisfaction", with a sort of quirky reggae beat. However, when dealing with such problems I suggest that we tell our upper lips to "Be Stiff".

This is the thread for random lyric quotes, is it not?

[jdaw1]

And who says us American's are the only ones who drink them young

[jdaw1]

And much may happen after the newly made wines are sent to the shipper’s lodges and before they are shipped to this or any other country.

[jdaw1]

China is roughly 39x's the size of the UK

Oh my goodness. An “x† where a “à † was meant, and then an entirely gratuitous “'s†. China is buying all the world’s commodities: will she soon start gobbling up all the apostrophes?

[g-man]

China is roughly 39x's the size of the UK

Oh my goodness. An “x† where a “à † was meant, and then an entirely gratuitous “'s†. China is buying all the world’s commodities: will she soon start gobbling up all the apostrophes?

i thought the x' would indeed denote the “à † was meant. The gratuitous "s" then would simply imply more the plural version of such statement.

[jdaw1]

i thought the x' would indeed denote the “à † was meant. The gratuitous "s" then would simply imply more the plural version of such statement.

Sometimes politicians say things just for the joy of watching their supporters pretend to take them seriously. This is one of those.

Exactly what omission was signified by the “'†? One “à † minus one “x†? And you want that taken seriously (by somebody other than DRT, who will happily pretend to take anything seriously—and I should know, as he thinks he’s my boss)?

[g-man]

i thought the x' would indeed denote the “à † was meant. The gratuitous "s" then would simply imply more the plural version of such statement.

Sometimes politicians say things just for the joy of watching their supporters pretend to take them seriously. This is one of those.

Exactly what omission was signified by the “'†? One “à † minus one “x†? And you want that taken seriously (by somebody other than DRT, who will happily pretend to take anything seriously—and I should know, as he thinks he’s my boss)?

Clearly the lack of port has clouded my judgment. Rather I've been stuck with a bottle of cheap, but serviceable, bottle of wine that Steph refuses to drink.

Bottoms up.

[DRT]

i thought the x' would indeed denote the “à † was meant. The gratuitous "s" then would simply imply more the plural version of such statement.

Sometimes politicians say things just for the joy of watching their supporters pretend to take them seriously. This is one of those.

Exactly what omission was signified by the “'†? One “à † minus one “x†? And you want that taken seriously (by somebody other than DRT, who will happily pretend to take anything seriously—and I should know, as he thinks he’s my boss)?

I object. I do not pretend to be serious about being JDAW's boss. I take that responsibility very seriously.

[jdaw1]

I do not pretend to be serious about being JDAW's boss. I take that responsibility very seriously.

Note that DRT believes that responsibility for my errors lies with him.

[jdaw1]

Better to air on the side of caution

Commendation for the pun assuming that you meant to substitute ‟air” for ‟err”.

Look, in the past 4 days I've work in the neighborhood of 65+ hours...no Port...I'm tired, cranky, and don't give a rats arse about spelling correctly at the moment...then again, maybe because I just finished a 1/2 bottle of VP after only intending to have one or two glasses ma have something to do with that

Nor does Andy V give a rat’s arse about an apostrophe.

[jdaw1]

But Obe Wan Ke-JDAW you have much to teach young Matt Skywalker:

• !
• How to check ones use of apostrophes before hitting Submit

This reads as a careless error, not Derek being deliberately facetious.

[DRT]

But Obe Wan Ke-JDAW you have much to teach young Matt Skywalker:

• !
• How to check ones use of apostrophes before hitting Submit

This reads as a careless error, not Derek being deliberately facetious.

I'm afraid you are wrong. For once your enthusiasm has allowed you to be sucked into reporting an intentional error. Honest, its true.