franco
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Post by franco on Sept 2, 2022 15:00:55 GMT -8
Spot the funny bit... from today's Melbourne newspaper.
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Post by Sleeping Bag Man! on Sept 2, 2022 15:03:55 GMT -8
Well...trying to capitalize on a celebrity death doesn't really tickle my ribs...but...I'm glad (for her mother) that the doctor didn't deliver her into the world when she was a teenager.
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franco
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Post by franco on Sept 2, 2022 15:25:52 GMT -8
Searching on this I found out that Olivia Newton-John was in fact born at a very early age.
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BigLoad
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Post by BigLoad on Sept 2, 2022 18:32:03 GMT -8
Searching on this I found out that Olivia Newton-John was in fact born at a very early age. At least she was an infant at the time, not a fetus or an embryo.
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gabby
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Post by gabby on Sept 3, 2022 9:38:56 GMT -8
I almost asked if the winery is haunted by an infant ghost who won't stop singing, in which case, it might be quite interesting, if terrifying and irritating in the extreme, at least for me. But ... For a while, I collected ads and headlines that had misspellings or grammatical errors, but there were way too many - I had to give it up. But only this morning, while sitting on the couch and reading, I came across this headline for an article about hiking: " Two Days Two Deli’s – The Trek" Why do people use the possessive for a plural a lot more these days? I'm forever looking at headlines with "false possessives" and thinking, as I did in this case: "the deli's what? Pastrami sandwich? Pickles and onions? The people in question actually visited two delis, so the word required is "delis", not "deli's", of course. NOTE: del·i
noun informal plural noun: delis
short for delicatessen.I could have had a career as an editor, but I would have only angered the masses.
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BigLoad
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Post by BigLoad on Sept 3, 2022 9:41:25 GMT -8
Why do people use the possessive for a plural a lot more these days That's a major peeve for me. I fear they're teaching that an apostrophe must precede any terminal "s".
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franco
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Post by franco on Sept 3, 2022 13:54:40 GMT -8
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gabby
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Post by gabby on Sept 3, 2022 15:12:16 GMT -8
I don’t care, franco: that’s just wrong! At the very least, one should be consistent: “teas and coffee’s” is not consistent use!
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Post by Sleeping Bag Man! on Sept 3, 2022 15:55:03 GMT -8
Why do people use the possessive for a plural a lot more these days? Well.......except.......in the case of the possessive form of "it", which is "its".......no apostrophe
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franco
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Post by franco on Sept 3, 2022 16:32:44 GMT -8
I don’t care, franco : that’s just wrong! I did not post that it is right , I was just letting you know that there is a common joke term for it.
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gabby
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Post by gabby on Sept 3, 2022 16:55:13 GMT -8
Yeah, franco , I too was merely being silly. You find this kind of stuff in the print newspapers as well as famous literary works. It’s not unexpected. No one proofreads anymore. I blame the incorporation of foreign language into English. That, and the obvious fact that Americans are stupid and lazy. The British are just weird. Australians pronounce everything wrong. The wife has begun watching Aussie “police procedurals” lately: I can get close if I pronounce ‘e’ as ‘i’ and clench my teeth. These guys have a better idea.
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gabby
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Post by gabby on Sept 3, 2022 18:04:33 GMT -8
Well.......except.......in the case of the possessive form of "it", which is "its".......no apostrophe Nah, "its" just refers to a large number ... of its. "How many its are there?" "I saw at least a thousand its, and they were all flying! It's been a long time since I saw that many its! Each one had its little winglets spread wide." There are at least 3 different kinds: "it's", which is a contraction of "it is" or "it has", "its", which is the possessive of some indeterminate thing, "it", and "its", which indicates a lot of those indeterminate things, perhaps even millions.
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Post by Sleeping Bag Man! on Sept 3, 2022 18:24:36 GMT -8
"its", which is the possessive of some indeterminate thing Right...it would have been more accurate for me to say that the "it" exception complicates the griping process about the proper use of possessives. "Gabby's mustache is awesome!"
"Sleeping Bag Man, please refer to me as 'it', my chosen pronoun"
"OK. Its mustache is awesome!"
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franco
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Post by franco on Sept 3, 2022 20:13:12 GMT -8
Hits his what its is.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Sept 4, 2022 18:15:12 GMT -8
Those random stray apostrophes are absolutely my pet peeve. People seem to be able to pluralize many nouns correctly, then feel compelled to throw in a few apostrophes here and there to satisfy some vague urge to punctuate (then leave off the period, comma and capital… and while you’re at it, get off my grass!).
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