The DU Lounge
Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsFor those who still don't know that plurals in English are generally not spelled with an apostrophe
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LAGC
(5,330 posts)I kind of like people pointing out my spelling and grammar errors, though.
Help's (sp) me improve...
Actually, it's mostly on Republican sites where I see that. Most Democrats know how to read and write English.
If you want a real laugh, go to the Washington Post site and read the comments (in the comments section below articles and editorials) by the paid professional hate posters from the right (they're not difficult to spot). Most of them never met an apostrophe they didn't like.
kentauros
(29,414 posts)However, as I've discovered in recent weeks at DU, some of our members are so very anal about this subject. They have stated (rather emphatically, I might add) that if a person can't spell or use anally-proper grammar, then they will be considered less educated / less intelligent / less than said anal-grammar-master, and unworthy of further discussion between them.
N'ow tha'ts jus't sad'
DFW
(54,407 posts)kentauros
(29,414 posts)RebelOne
(30,947 posts)But those apostrophes in plural nouns drive me crazy.
Art_from_Ark
(27,247 posts)The difference between "I will not support Romney" and "I will now support Romney"
Bucky
(54,027 posts)Not that I'm trying to be a category nazi...
http://static.fjcdn.com/pictures/Grammar+Nazi.+OC+And+Four+More+Words_91faa4_3690058.jpg
Art_from_Ark
(27,247 posts)But if it's not corrected, then it becomes in essence a spelling error if the intent of the writer is misrepresented by the word as it is written.
Deep13
(39,154 posts)I still object to the term "grammar Nazi." The Nazis murdered 20 million people. Those who point out grammatical errors are merely annoying. I propose using the term "grammar pedants" from now on.
bigwillq
(72,790 posts)although I do like Soup Nazi.
What is the deal with that?
MiddleFingerMom
(25,163 posts)Bucky
(54,027 posts)you're comparing them to Jerry Sandusky.
(And yes, I do know what "pedents" really means, so don't be a definition nazi )
kentauros
(29,414 posts)Same number of syllables, and more people know what a despot is than a pedant
beac
(9,992 posts)mar·ti·net noun \ˌmär-tə-ˈnet\
Definition of MARTINET
1: a strict disciplinarian
2: a person who stresses a rigid adherence to the details of forms and methods
nolabear
(41,987 posts)hay rick
(7,624 posts)Dressing for the occasion would be a bonus.
kentauros
(29,414 posts)Ah, here they are!
retread
(3,762 posts)Though most of them got all A's in English.
dimbear
(6,271 posts)It goes way back.
Now I need to wash the dishes and then do the irony.
LeftinOH
(5,354 posts)of a store where I worked back in the 1980s. I promptly went out there and painted over the apostrophe. The business is gone now, but the sign is still there and the words have faded almost completely, but that little blotch of white paint is still doing its job.
Jim Lane
(11,175 posts)Buy a copy of the book Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, by Lynne Truss. At least in the edition I have, it includes a punctuation repair kit. There are several sheets with gum-backed punctuation marks of varying sizes that you can peel out of the kit and stick onto signs where they're needed. (Perhaps your local theater is showing the film Two Weeks Notice and you want to add the missing apostrophe.) For cases like the one you describe, the kit includes other stickers reading "The Panda Says No!" that can be used to cover improper apostrophes and the like.
Her iconic panda is the one that walks into a bar, gobbles down some pretzels, fires a gun twice into the air, and turns around to go out. The startled bartender asks, "Wait, what was that all about?" The panda replies that, according to the encyclopedia, a panda eats shoots and leaves.
RebelOne
(30,947 posts)kentauros
(29,414 posts)Or every only? I can't say I'm a customer, yet I would like to park my only here.
pipi_k
(21,020 posts)the quotation marks...
"cook" books for sale
"chicken" breasts: $ 1.49/lb
rest rooms for "customers" only
DFW
(54,407 posts).....mainly because I LOVE Mark Knopfler's music, and when I hear this otherwise great song with one of the stupidest grammatical mistakes you can make, and TWICE in the same verse, I feel like shouting back at the CD to tell him to rewrite his text.
From his song "Darling Pretty" from the album "Golden Heart:"
There will come a day, darling pretty
There will come a day when hearts can fly
Love will find a way, my darling pretty
Find a heaven for you and I
Love will find a way, my darling pretty
Find a heaven for you and I
I don't care HOW well it rhymes, I age a month every time I hear him sing "for you and I."
MiddleFingerMom
(25,163 posts).
.
.
At least it would if they were MY lyrics.
.
.
.
.
.
.
DFW
(54,407 posts)I'd say, "BRING IT ON!"
pipi_k
(21,020 posts)Listening to a 60s station the other day, and what comes on but "The Girl From Ipanema"
Kicky tune and lyrics until...
"But each day when she walks to the sea,
She looks straight ahead, not at he..."
Like your example, I don't care how well it rhymes. It makes me cringe.
And why wasn't it written, "She looks straight ahead, not at ME" ?
oh well
DFW
(54,407 posts)Não?
geardaddy
(24,931 posts)pipi_k
(21,020 posts)Love it! Thanks!
I may have to contribute a few of my own that I find around town.
Looks like some people think quotes function as italics.
Wait Wut
(8,492 posts)...when I go to California called "Hope, AZ". They had this old sign welcoming you to Hope. On the other side it said, "Your now beyond Hope."
They replaced the sign a couple of years ago. It still says, "Your now beyond Hope", but now the sign is even more prominent.
The husband and I will be about a mile or so from the sign when the husband just starts giggling. He knows I'm going to go off on a friggin' rant. I tried taking a picture of it once, because my sister didn't believe me. Next time, I guess I'll have to actually get out of the car.
retread
(3,762 posts)Queen of Hearts: Your way? All ways here are my ways!
Iggo
(47,558 posts)That sign's just askin' for it.
lunatica
(53,410 posts)The other one would make me pissy.
JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,350 posts)DFW
(54,407 posts)Tuesday Afternoon
(56,912 posts)ThoughtCriminal
(14,047 posts)Dyedinthewoolliberal
(15,577 posts)It's on my FB page already!
southerncrone
(5,506 posts)itll bee all right.
UrbScotty
(23,980 posts)NV Whino
(20,886 posts)I can't edit the mistakes.
I've sent back many a library book having edited mistakes and bad grammar. I've also read a few where someone got there before I did. Makes me smile when I see an edited book.
ChazInAz
(2,569 posts)I have been a high school English teacher, I am an actor....English is one of my tools.
My boss, the last one before I retired, was incapable of using proper grammar or correct spelling. Quite often, he'd ask me the proper spelling of some words whilst toiling over a memo. Being a helpful guy, I'd tell him. That was alright by me...glad to be a resource in the interest of better communications. Apparently some higher-up pointed out to him that it was inappropriate. So the requests stopped, and his memos became virtually unintelligible. Still being a helpful guy, I started correcting his spelling and grammar in red pencil, grading them and sending them back. The memos stopped appearing after a while. I don't know why.
Shortly thereafter, he hired a secretary.
I was just doing my part to create jobs.
Now I'm retired, but I still know my shit!
ashling
(25,771 posts)Last edited Sun Jun 24, 2012, 07:53 PM - Edit history (1)
~ William Cobbett
I use this quote in my government class. Effective communication is a component of critical thinking.
I have had kids in college who's grammar was so bad as to make their writing incomprehensible. I required one student to visit the campus writing center before I would grade any more of her work.
ashling
(25,771 posts)but I play one on DU