Spelling and grammar on this forum

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I blame greengrocer's.

"Greengrocer's"...yet another example of an abbreviated version of two words.

However, I feel that you may be making a cryptic referral to vegetables sold by a greengrocer, as part of the healthy slogan "Five a day".

I do have a sense of humour (outside my grammatical monitoring), that is viewed by some as being akin to something found in THE GOON SHOW. Look on the INFRASTRUCTURE forum at the post headed "Ardwick stations rickety footbridge" and see how my script on posting #25 was worded on 2/6/2011.

 

[HugePilchard]

I think "greengrocer's" may have been a tongue-in-cheek reference to the greengrocer's apostrophe.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

A picture paints a thousand words....very well done indeed!!

 

[Barton Keyes]

I think "greengrocer's" may have been a tongue-in-cheek reference to the greengrocer's apostrophe.

Yes indeed. What I find baffling/amusing is the way that they hedge their bets to have a 50% chance of being right. "Apples and pear's", for instance. Do they learn how to do this at Greengrocers' School?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

This subject brings to mind a case of a very high profile young Republican candidate who told a very young student that she had mis-spelt a word (fruit or vegetable ? ) and wrote his spelling on the blackboard.

He was wrong....she was right!... the Democrats made the most of this

 

[HugePilchard]

Dan Quayle and the word Potato(e), I believe.

The best ever example of apostrophe misuse I've ever seen was at a car boot sale, where someone had a sign up advertising "Clothe's props".

 

[The Barlow Boy]

The easiest way to remember the dreaded apostrophe is that it either goes in to replace missing letters - they're, you're for they are and you are - and to indicate a possesiveness.
I think it was Gwyneth Paltrow who has named a child Apple.
Apple's apples are red and shiny. It's Apples's (possesiveness) because the apples (plural) are hers.
Easy really.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Why do the small FAMILY OWNED retail shops in towns all seem to suffer from this problem...is it a genetic problem that gets passed from generation to generation?

 

[HST Power]

Why do the small FAMILY OWNED retail shops in towns all seem to suffer from this problem...is it a genetic problem that gets passed from generation to generation?

If the shop runs in the family I suppose you just carry on where your predecessor left off!

 

[Greenback]

They probably missed a lot of school to work in the family business!!!

 

[HST Power]

They probably missed a lot of school to work in the family business!!!

To take over a shop? Don't make me laugh!

 

[ralphchadkirk]

They probably missed a lot of school to work in the family business!!!

How would that work? Most shops round here don't allow schoolchildren in!

 

[HST Power]

How would that work? Most shops round here don't allow schoolchildren in!

Either that or they have signs on the doors saying 'No more than three children at a time.'

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Regarding the flamboyant use of the apostrophe, the unfortunate thing that has occurred to me is that the standard of English as understood by the customers would not lead them to see any mistake :cry::cry::cry:

 

[LE Greys]

The District Line is not immune. Earl's Court, Barons Court and St James's Park. Which is correct?

 

[HST Power]

Regarding the flamboyant use of the apostrophe, the unfortunate thing that has occurred to me is that the standard of English as understood by the customers would not lead them to see any mistake :cry::cry::cry:

Well you're hardly going to launch into fury when you go into Morrisons and discover that the apostrophe rule has been inadequately used when you go to pick up the milk.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

As far as railway apostrophes go, the following do not have them:
Hunts Cross
Kings Park

That's all I've got so far!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Well you're hardly going to launch into fury when you go into Morrisons and discover that the apostrophe rule has been inadequately used when you go to pick up the milk.

Not I, but my wife, has done exactly the same thing at Sainsburys in Wilmslow when a hand written sign outside the main entrance had just this type of punctuation mistake. The poster said:-

Please be careful when handling the trolley's

It had been written in marker pen by a junior member of the store on a piece of redundant cardboard packaging. There were pavement reinstatements outside the store at that time.

 

[Striker]

The District Line is not immune. Earl's Court, Barons Court and St James's Park. Which is correct?

Or even King's Cross which I've seen spelt both with and without an apostrophe.

 

[SS4]

I saw a poster today which stated "£10.000" on it, the main issue was it was all caps though

 

[HST Power]

Or even King's Cross which I've seen spelt both with and without an apostrophe.

I was going to ask about that. Should King's Cross (or Kings Cross) have one or not?

 

[Striker]

I was going to ask about that. Should King's Cross (or Kings Cross) have one or not?

According to Wikipedia:

The station name, King's Cross, is seen spelt both with and without an apostrophe:

King's Cross is the signage used in the Network Rail and London Underground stations and on the tube map.

The official Network Rail webpage uses the "King's Cross" spelling.[23]

Kings Cross is used in the National Rail timetable database, as well as on other National Rail railway pages, and the usage is also seen on the TheTrainLine online booking system. However, other stations such as King's Lynn and Hall i' th' Wood also lack apostrophes, suggesting that this is either a software limitation or a consistent stylistic convention.

Older British Railways signage also used the name "Kings Cross", without the apostrophe

Unlike the station, the name of the locality it lies within is commonly written as "Kings Cross", without an apostrophe
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I saw a poster today which stated "£10.000" on it, the main issue was it was all caps though

In continental Europe, decimal points are used instead of commas, and vice versa. So 10,000.55 would be written 10.000,55

 

[ralphchadkirk]

I suspect it's a software limitation rather than a stylistic choice. I would imagine it's to do with the technicalities of the thermal printing on tickets.

 

[SS4]

In continental Europe, decimal points are used instead of commas, and vice versa. So 10,000.55 would be written 10.000,55

Is their currency accurate to three decimal places

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Is their currency accurate to three decimal places

If so, how would you receive any change owing to you from a purchase that you had made :roll:

And where is this most unusual country of which you speak....I remember in Gullivers Travels there was a country called EREHWON

 

[Barton Keyes]

I was going to ask about that. Should King's Cross (or Kings Cross) have one or not?

I live in Bishop's Castle, which sometimes doesn't have the apostrophe included, even on official documents. It's probably an evolutionary thing. Some web site forms won't accept an address that has an apostrophe.

Recently a man was arrested and charged with causing damage to public property after he painted in a missing apostrophe that the local authority had left off a new street sign. On his day in court he maintained that it was a matter of principle. He also refused to go through "five items or less" checkouts at supermarkets and wouldn't open his mail if it was addressed to him in Tunbridge Wells and not Royal Tunbridge Wells. Seems a tad extreme.

 

[HST Power]

I've decided to use the apostrophe as of now. They use it on the station platforms and signs, so I'll go by that.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I live in Bishop's Castle, which sometimes doesn't have the apostrophe included, even on official documents. It's probably an evolutionary thing.

If it has been a case where the wording were to have been shown to going back into historical time, you will find acceptance of the word under these circumstances.

 

[HugePilchard]

I used to live in a street that was signed as "King Edwards Rd" at one end, and "King Edward's Rd" at the other.

 

[emoaconr]

To be quite honest having just finished a Linguistics degree, I actually hate the English language.

Its so wrapped up in its faux-standards imposed by the ruling elite over centuries of standardisation and butchering of this once diverse language we once had. People are just terrified of knowing whether its Jones' or Joneses... whether its internet or Internet, email or E-mail... not to mention the stupidity of our botched-up alphabet-sound relations (cough, bough, through), the 5-vowels lie and correcting people on dropping their intial H's and final G's (which I continue to do so as part of my accent) is just bloody stupid. As somebody who also speaks Welsh, the differences between the elitism in both languages is stark. Regionality and dialect is a beautiful thing when its allowed to blossom. English has chopped it all at the bud; what regionality we have remaining is still pretty wide and beautiful, but we could have had something much better in its place if it wasn't for the 18th Century prescriptivism approaches.

and az foa speling, ayd kwayt pursunlee rip upart thu haul thing. purhaps aym u bit tu radicul fur modurn inglish!

As for the apostrophe debate... I'm all for its deletion in posessive forms.