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OT: How to use a *spoon* apostrophe

Started by seank,

135 posts in this topic

conditionfreak

conditionfreak

Posted
Posted

Yet even those who should know better often use the possessive when pluralizing years (e.g. "And even into the 80's I always (at the time, and still do to some degree) felt that DC tried to capitalize all of Marvels ideas...." - Seank). :baiting:

 

That's because it is correct to use an apostrophe when pluralizing years. It is also accepted to omit the apostrophe.

 

Jut trying to up the pedantry of the thread. :baiting:

 

The current Tiger woods joke going around is:

 

Hey, did you hear that Tiger Woods changed his name? He is now known as Cheetah Woods.

 

(Gee, I hope y'all got that) :)

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Zonker

Zonker

Posted
Posted

What about when you're speaking of a collection of letters?

 

Mary got all A's on her report card.

 

Little Jack hasn't yet learned how to say his L's.

 

I'm guilty of using a 's to denote the plural of numbers: 1970's, Batman comics in the 240's. I guess I've seen it that way for so long it looks normal. But after thinking about it, the apostrophe in that case is at best unnecessary, since there is no way to misunderstand the author's intent even without the apostrophe.

 

Another rantrant , all y'all Yankees need to learn that the abbreviation is you all, therefore y'all. Not ya'll. :sumo:

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cheetah

cheetah

Posted
Posted

That's because it is correct to use an apostrophe when pluralizing years.

 

doh!

 

No. It. Isn't.

 

Using an apostrophe for pluralization is always wrong.

 

You just need to check the various 'authorities" on the issue. Both usages are considered acceptable. There are plenty of cases when English allows multiple ways of doing the same thing.

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FlyingDonut

FlyingDonut

Posted
Posted

That's because it is correct to use an apostrophe when pluralizing years.

 

doh!

 

No. It. Isn't.

 

Using an apostrophe for pluralization is always wrong.

 

You just need to check the various 'authorities" on the issue. Both usages are considered acceptable. There are plenty of cases when English allows multiple ways of doing the same thing.

 

No. It. Isn't.

 

An apostrophe is a contraction. Using an apostrophe for a plural is wrong. The incorrect use of an apostrophe to form the plural is called the greengrocer's apostrophe, since grocers are often the worst (or at least the most visible) offenders. If you have more than one apple, then write apples, not apple's. If you cannot replace the word with "his," "her," "their" or "its" and if it isn't a contraction, then an apostrophe should not be used.

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Sal

Sal

Posted
Posted
but people who use an apostrophe when writing a plural are dumbasses

 

(worship)

 

Yet even those who should know better often use the possessive when pluralizing years (e.g. "And even into the 80's I always (at the time, and still do to some degree) felt that DC tried to capitalize all of Marvels ideas...." - Seank). :baiting:

 

Comment board posting ranks about the same as email, it's nice if proper grammar, punctuation and spelling are used, but I don't want to be graded on my efforts. Given the speed and stream of consciousness nature of most postings, consistent misspelling is the only one of these that I really notice.

 

message board posting differs from e-mail in one important aspect, though.

 

 

and nothing said here is so important that someone shouldn't be able to take five seconds to proofread before posting.

 

and using an apostrophe when pluralising something is always stupid, no matter what the circumstance.

 

and spelling errors left uncorrected tend to multiply in the wild, until you have a significant portion of the population that doesn't even know the difference between "your" and "you're" which just makes us all stupider.

 

and no one is grading anyone. what we are doing however, is consciously or subconsciously making a determination about a poster's intelligence and maturity levels. if someone wants people to think that he or she is not only stupid, but immature to boot, i suppose it is their right to do so. why they would do that, i haven't the foggiest

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seank

seank

Posted
  • Author
Posted
but people who use an apostrophe when writing a plural are dumbasses

 

(worship)

 

Yet even those who should know better often use the possessive when pluralizing years (e.g. "And even into the 80's I always (at the time, and still do to some degree) felt that DC tried to capitalize all of Marvels ideas...." - Seank). :baiting:

 

 

:blush: Guilty as charged. But I never said I was perfect...

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rjpb

rjpb

Posted
Posted

Yet even those who should know better often use the possessive when pluralizing years (e.g. "And even into the 80's I always (at the time, and still do to some degree) felt that DC tried to capitalize all of Marvels ideas...." - Seank). :baiting:

 

That's because it is correct to use an apostrophe when pluralizing years. It is also accepted to omit the apostrophe.

 

Just trying to up the pedantry of the thread. :baiting:

 

I believe you mean it is correct to omit it, but accepted by some sources to include it. As there are examples where the possessive for a decade would be correct, as in "the 1990s' best selling comic", omitting it for the plural makes sense, as 1990's' looks pretty awkward.

 

In a related rant, I am slightly annoyed that the universal adaptation of @ in email addresses has so thoroughly changed the meaning of the symbol from at the rate (or amount) of to at the location, that using it in its original sense only confuses people.

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rjpb

rjpb

Posted
Posted

Yet even those who should know better often use the possessive when pluralizing years (e.g. "And even into the 80's I always (at the time, and still do to some degree) felt that DC tried to capitalize all of Marvels ideas...." - Seank). :baiting:

 

That's because it is correct to use an apostrophe when pluralizing years. It is also accepted to omit the apostrophe.

 

Jut trying to up the pedantry of the thread. :baiting:

 

The current Tiger woods joke going around is:

 

Hey, did you hear that Tiger Woods changed his name? He is now known as Cheetah Woods.

 

(Gee, I hope y'all got that) :)

 

What's the difference between Tiger Woods and Santa?

 

Santa only has three hos.

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rjpb

rjpb

Posted
Posted
You know what the ironic thing about these grammar naggers is? Most of them are horrible with basic math. Ask any of these naggers what 12 times 17 is. Either they will stand there dumbfounded, or they will have to get a pencil and paper to answer the question.

 

 

Please site examples and explain exactly how this constitutes irony. :baiting:

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143ksk

143ksk

Posted
Posted
You know what the ironic thing about these grammar naggers is? Most of them are horrible with basic math. Ask any of these naggers what 12 times 17 is. Either they will stand there dumbfounded, or they will have to get a pencil and paper to answer the question.

 

It's 204. And, using a piece of paper and pencil (or a calculator) is just the equivalent of looking up a correct word usage... :baiting:

 

And while we're at it, my pet peeves are:

 

"I gave him a peace of my mind" and "For all intensive purposes"

 

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143ksk

143ksk

Posted
Posted
You know what the ironic thing about these grammar naggers is? Most of them are horrible with basic math. Ask any of these naggers what 12 times 17 is. Either they will stand there dumbfounded, or they will have to get a pencil and paper to answer the question.

 

 

Please cite examples and explain exactly how this constitutes irony. :baiting:

:baiting:
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BaltimoreLauren

BaltimoreLauren

Posted
Posted
You know what the ironic thing about these grammar naggers is? Most of them are horrible with basic math. Ask any of these naggers what 12 times 17 is. Either they will stand there dumbfounded, or they will have to get a pencil and paper to answer the question.

 

I'm an English major at my local university and I can't do math to save my life. I (as well as millions of other people) happen to be better at one thing instead of the other. Also, I just don't see the irony in there.

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rjpb

rjpb

Posted
Posted
You know what the ironic thing about these grammar naggers is? Most of them are horrible with basic math. Ask any of these naggers what 12 times 17 is. Either they will stand there dumbfounded, or they will have to get a pencil and paper to answer the question.

 

 

Please cite examples and explain exactly how this constitutes irony. :baiting:

:baiting:

:blush:

 

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Mephisto

Mephisto

Posted
Posted

I don't really worry about my typing online and know I make a lot of mistakes. An apostrophe is something I probably usually gloss over when I'm typing online. However, the one thing that drives me nuts on this board is when people say something is "for sell" or "not for sell." It is either for SALE or not for SALE! http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/forsell.html

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