Apostrophe plural's

[MTGuru]

Hah! Would you prefer what we have here? Chester draws?

Better than Chesty Drawers: http://www.artofstone.com/chestydrawers.html

Actually, I thought Chesty Drawers was an exotic dancer.

[dubhlinn]

Language is a living, breathing active part of our lives. It is often written, as it is spoke..or maybe spoken.
Communication is the point of it all, so does it matter if an errant apostrophe falls by the wayside?

Does it matter that the elegance of Hardy, Milton ..blah..blah.. is not commonplace in everyday conversation. Does it matter that people communicate on cell phones in a language that bears no relation to the same words spoken in the vernacular of the day? Does it matter that a simple thought, uttered in a few short words, can become an issue on an internet message board?

Yeah..it does to me but fcuk it..I know my neighbours names, I know the guys I work with, I know the problems that my bar buddies have and I also know that not one of them could spell apostrophe..never mind what it means.

Time to pour a decent measure of Jamesons and say hello to Molly Bloom....a bit of Madam George alongside her and hope I don't get a text(sms) message along the way.

Slan,
D.

[SteveShaw]

Language is a living, breathing active part of our lives. It is often written, as it is spoke..or maybe spoken.
Communication is the point of it all, so does it matter if an errant apostrophe falls by the wayside?

Does it matter that the elegance of Hardy, Milton ..blah..blah.. is not commonplace in everyday conversation. Does it matter that people communicate on cell phones in a language that bears no relation to the same words spoken in the vernacular of the day? Does it matter that a simple thought, uttered in a few short words, can become an issue on an internet message board?

Yeah..it does to me but fcuk it..I know my neighbours names, I know the guys I work with, I know the problems that my bar buddies have and I also know that not one of them could spell apostrophe..never mind what it means.

Time to pour a decent measure of Jamesons and say hello to Molly Bloom....a bit of Madam George alongside her and hope I don't get a text(sms) message along the way.

Slan,
D.

It matters because English is a wonderfully complex tongue that is capable of quite exceptional nuance. We got there after centuries of amazing scholarship and the greatest poetry and prose ever written. We should celebrate that by refusing to let any of its beautiful twists and turns, no matter how obstinately intransigent they may be to the dull, fall by the wayside. Getting it right is a challenge to many, but that is no reason to allow degradation to set in. That is a depressingly defeatist attitude. Good English is as beautiful as good mathematics or good science.

[djm]

Good English is as beautiful as good mathematics or good science.

Yup! Gooder, even!

djm

[talasiga]

Language is a living, breathing active part of our lives.

Yes but not every breath is conducive to good living.
For instance, consider: dying breath, foul breath and shallow breath.

[talasiga]

Good English is as beautiful as good mathematics or good science.

Yup! Gooder, even!

djm

No, smarty pants. Gooder English is not as good as good maths. Gooder English doesn't count.
See?

[dubhlinn]

It matters because English is a wonderfully complex tongue that is capable of quite exceptional nuance. We got there after centuries of amazing scholarship and the greatest poetry and prose ever written. We should celebrate that by refusing to let any of its beautiful twists and turns, no matter how obstinately intransigent they may be to the dull, fall by the wayside. Getting it right is a challenge to many, but that is no reason to allow degradation to set in. That is a depressingly defeatist attitude. Good English is as beautiful as good mathematics or good science.

The greatest poetry and prose ever written depends on how many languages we speak and read, apart from English.

The falling by the wayside of this great beauty seems to me to be an evolutional thing. The Language is evolving among those who speak it in terms of their daily usage in the world they have evolved into.

The depressingly defeatist attitude is an acceptance of the world today as it exists in the workplace, playground and bar room, based on an everyday observation of such matters.

Mathematics is a pure science among the everyday evolution of Science, a constant dependable truth..but then again..they laughed at Einstein.

Less Commas, Hyphens, Periods..more reaching out and communicating in the real world.

We can read our books later....

Slan,
D.

[SteveShaw]

A very unfocused post there, Dub, if you don't mind my saying so. "Less commas, hyphens, periods..." oh dear. We need all those, and more, to do all that communicating that you refer to, if we are to do it with the lovely, fully-nuanced language that we should be so proud to preserve. If we go your way, well, we may well be grunting at each other in a few decades' time, in the manner of Raquel Welch and that hunky bloke who defended her from the dinosaurs in One Million Years BC! I only wish I could say that I was that bloke, but, sadly, I wasn't. Mind you, she and I may well have been divorced by now anyway, had I been. One does have to move on...

[Denny]

[dubhlinn]

Yep...

Slan,
D.

[SteveShaw]

I completely agree with dub, though, along with 99.348% of the human race at the latest estimate, I haven't a bloody clue as to what that windmill signifies. For Christ's sake don't bother to tell me, Denny. I'm going to bed in a minute and I want to retain the possibility of having a good windmill dream.

[Denny]

just take yer ass ta bed then!

Good night to ya!!

[Lambchop]

Wait! Wait! I know! I'll tell you! He's implying that the argument is tilting at windmills.

[s1m0n]

He's implying that the argument is tilting at windmills.

We're talking about ENGLISH! damnit! Not that Cervantes fella.

[Doc Jones]

People are always screwing up with my name. Here are the appropriate Jones forms:

Jones - One Jones
Joneses - More than one Jones
Jones' - Belonging to one Jones
Joneses' - Belonging to more than one Jones
Jones's- Jones is

All but the first are pronounced Jone-zuz

Used in a sentance: Doc Jones has a vet clinic. Doc Jones' clinic is near the Joneses' home and all the little Joneses help him run it. Doc Jones's done writing sentances now.

Doc Jones