An Open Letter
Jan. 17th, 2005 11:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
c9Dear English-speakers:
Please remove the apostrophe from your keyboard. We all use it incorrectly. Argh.
Sincerely,
Cam
If you ever want to add an apostrophe to a noun, don't. One apple, two apples. Not apple's. Apple's means that the apple owns something. Similar to Joe's Truck Stop. Even in a weird situation, like PDA or flea. Cam likes PDAs, the dog might have fleas. Not PDA's. Not flea's.
What about its and it's? Every time you want to type it's, replace it with "it is." If it still works, then it's OK. (see? it is OK.) There's a similar test for "its." Replace it with "her" and if it still works, you're fine.
It's about time. = It is about time.
The dog chased its tail. = The dog chased her tail.
If I made a typo in this bit, I'm sorry. But my mind is on other things today. :-)
More info on this, even though nobody cares about this like I do: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_apost.html
Please remove the apostrophe from your keyboard. We all use it incorrectly. Argh.
Sincerely,
Cam
If you ever want to add an apostrophe to a noun, don't. One apple, two apples. Not apple's. Apple's means that the apple owns something. Similar to Joe's Truck Stop. Even in a weird situation, like PDA or flea. Cam likes PDAs, the dog might have fleas. Not PDA's. Not flea's.
What about its and it's? Every time you want to type it's, replace it with "it is." If it still works, then it's OK. (see? it is OK.) There's a similar test for "its." Replace it with "her" and if it still works, you're fine.
It's about time. = It is about time.
The dog chased its tail. = The dog chased her tail.
If I made a typo in this bit, I'm sorry. But my mind is on other things today. :-)
More info on this, even though nobody cares about this like I do: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_apost.html
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no subject
Date: 2005-01-17 09:08 am (UTC)In front of City Hall in Halifax, there are two signs admonishing people not to park in front of the cenotaph. Unfortunately, they say Please do not park in front of the "cenotaph", which always sets me off on an internal rant about the misuse of quotation marks.
Only one friend appreciates this. And even that might be a stretch.
no subject
Date: 2005-01-17 04:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-17 07:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-17 06:55 pm (UTC)We went to dinner with Bill and his "friend," Marty.
We spent the weekend with Donald and Marla at their "cottage" in the Hamptons.
He finally got a new job as a "sanitation engineer."
On a related topic - there is a Chinese Restaurant in the Colony Square food court called Chien's Oriental Cuisine. (This is scary enough on its own.) The table with the condiments and silverware stuck out into the aisle, so they had a sign:
Chien's Oriental Customers Only.
Apparently, non-Asian customers felt uncomfortable, so they changed the sign to:
Chien's Costumers Only.