Subject: Poor little hyphen.
Author:
Posted on: 2009-02-01 20:15:00 UTC
It's such a useful critter. Clears up so much potential ambiguity, and yet is so unappreciated. And who even knows about the en-dash? Is it weird that I suddenly want plush punctuation marks just so I can cuddle the poor unloved things?
~Neshomeh, who doesn't even think without punctuation.
They're taking apostrophies out of street signs.
In Birmingham, "King's Cross" is being written on signs as "Kings Cross". The council made it official, after having apparently been quietly taking them out for years.
Quote: "Apostrophes denote possessions that are no longer accurate, and are not needed,"
Am I the only one who finds thous OUTRAGEOUS?
On a bus that was clearly on its way to the depot:
ITS WAY PAST THIS BUSES BEDTIME
If not for the apostrophy abuse, that would have been exceedingly funny. *sigh*
Apostrophes are often misused or left out. It's really irritating when it happens.
Oookay, then. That makes sense, in the same way that my bed is actually a tiger. *rolls eyes*
How does taking the apostrophes out make it more accurate?
See Kings!
See Kings Cross!
Cross, Kings! Cross!
Extra! Extra! Kings Cross Station! Read all abaht it!
They sould get rid of the `s` as well. It would only make sence. That would keep the meaning straight and not have the grammatically correct up in arms.
Just my two yen.
Leto
'Course, people'd adapt, but it'd take a bit of getting used to.
I saw that on the news last night and was not too pleased. It was the closest I've come to throwing something at my TV in a while. No one who pays attention in English should be confused by apostrophes.
...that people DO pay attention.
"What? All those fiddly grammatical rules? Bollocks to that, there's footy on!"
Never mind that even an IDIOT could understand said rules, but then, since when have the British (or American, for that matter) public at large ever been intelligent enough to be called 'idiots'?
Yeah, but who does? I mean, some years ago I was as much as told that I was not, in fact, expected to get anything out of ninth grade English class save social experience.
Admittedly, this was the American school system, and this was near five years ago now, but...
It's going down the tubes, really.
Still. This? Shall not be tolerated. Grr.
Excuse me whilst I go headbutt a wall. Repeatedly.
*thunk*
"Apostrophes denote possessions that are no longer accurate, and are not needed"?!
But...plural...if...oh, Eru. *headdesk*
I admit it is outrageous. It is, however, all I ever expected from the Midlands.
It's not just the Midlands, Pads. ITV news had one of their reporters showing the street sign at one end of a street in London with an apostrophe placed correctly, but missing at the other end. The same reporter asked three pedestrians outside King's Cross the meaning of the apostrophe in the sign for that station, and only one got it correct. I'm not sure where the first guy wanted to put the apostrophe, and the woman wanted to modify it to 'Kings' Cross'.
*sigh*
Alright, the entire country's doomed, I suppose. Let's just break out the nukes and have done.
No, bad Pads, no nukes. Some of us still have to live here, at least until they've graduated from Uni anyway. Let's not let the illiterate minority (who are unfortunately growing to a majority, but they're still a minority if we don't count all the immigrants who can't be bothered to learn English well enough to understand it) win.
I have very little experience with social rabble-rousing, but I do know that if enough rabble gets roused, it can make a difference.
So... anyone with more experience know how to set up a good petition? "Save the Apostrophe" sort of thing?
~Neshomeh
Not that I live in England, or anywhere close, but I'll be glad to help out. ...No idea how, but I will.
It always drives me mad when my post is addressed to "St Augustines". There should be a full stop and an apostrophe in there.
I always wondered about the lack of full stops in abbreviations like that. St., Mr., all those sorts of things. I figured it was just one of those British usage things.
I say go out there with some bright red paint and mark in the appropriate punctuation. And make some angry phone calls to whoever sends letters addressed like that.
~Neshomeh
Been reading Origin of Species and Darwin always says Mr or Dr or whatever. Never puts a full stop after.
Dropping the . after Mr and Mrs is one of those examples of language evolving, similar to how we're currently in the process of doing away with the hyphen. Saint, however, is only ever shortened in street names (well, and actual saints' names, but who ever writes about those?), so one can't really make quite the same argument for dropping the punctuation.
I'd have to go round all the local pubs too. Within three minutes' walk from here are "Queens", "Nags Head", and "St Johns". And buggered if I'm defacing the latter, because it's my local.
It's such a useful critter. Clears up so much potential ambiguity, and yet is so unappreciated. And who even knows about the en-dash? Is it weird that I suddenly want plush punctuation marks just so I can cuddle the poor unloved things?
~Neshomeh, who doesn't even think without punctuation.
Funny thing, that, the clearing of ambiguity. English is already unusual in that word order is of paramount importance, thanks to our dislike of declensions. You lose the hyphen, and word order becomes even more important. So I like it, in a way. Losing the hyphen further distinguishes English from other, declining languages. (And by Glod I hate declining things. Old Norse this semester is going to be murder.)
There's a furniture warehouse in my city called "My Mate Johns". It makes me want to tear my hair out.
On the other hand, I like dropping the full stop after "Mr" and "Mrs" - otherwise it's far too easy to misread it as the end of a sentence. As for saints... bleh. Same story, I guess.
*hands around the buckets of paint* Forward, march!
This, however, is the height of stupidity. Are they saying that the plural is more accurate than the possessive? 'Cause that's what it is now. And, maybe this is just me, being raised American and all, but when I see Queens English, I think the accent and dialect associated with an area in New York City. {= P
~Neshomeh, who apologizes for nitpicking the typo, but thought it was funny. ^_~
That actually makes more sense than this decision, actually. *Miles Edgeworth head shake* Some people are just too ignorant. Appalling, to be quite honest. At least your comment was worth a laugh, which is more than I can say for this ruling.
Was meant to be "this".