posted on July 14, 2008 07:34:27 AM new
Is it just me or has anybody else noticed the epidemic of apostrophes in America lately? Specifically, the use of an apostrophe in a word that is meant to be plural, not possessive, i.e. "American English is going to the dog's."
The misplaced apostrophe is showing up everywhere, including newspapers, the internet (where I suspect it had its beginnings), magazines and even billboards for crying out loud! It just annoys the h@ll out of me to see this becoming common usage. My poor old English grammar teacher is probably rolling over in her grave.
I'm reading my local morning newspaper and there it is again. Don't journalists and reporters go to college? Do they not have editors anymore?
My partner just says, "spellcheck doesn't recognize it and no one proofreads anymore." Then she tells me to get a life =)
posted on July 14, 2008 08:23:55 AM new
Thank You - Thank You - I see this everywhere. The correct puncuation is "The dogs' bowl is outside - not the "dog's" bowl is outside. "dog's" translates into "dog is". "dogs'" is the posessive term with the apostrophe after the word. This is very prevalant in todays society. According to the Oxford English Dictionary the apostrophe as posession anywhere but the end of a word is allowed as poetic license only.
I feel vindicated as I'm not the only person this drives to distraction.
The other thing that drive me nuts is the inability of most people under 50 years of age to make change unless they have a calculator or a cash register that displays the balance. Why are people not taught how to simply count up from the amount of sale to the amount of $$ they have received??
posted on July 14, 2008 08:32:23 AM new
Shething, it's called the "grocer's apostrophe" because of its ubiquity in grocery stores, especially the old-fashioned ones with blackboards outside the shop ("onion's" etc.)
It's covered at length in the wonderful book "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves" with the Panda and the smoking gun on the cover
Capolady, "The correct puncuation is "The dogs' bowl is outside - not the "dog's" bowl is outside. "dog's" translates into "dog is". "dogs'" is the posessive term with the apostrophe after the word." Are you SURE about this? I was taught that the dog's bowl refers to the bowl of a single dog, while the dogs' bowl would refer to the bowl shared by a number of dogs. I will go see if I can find a reference somewhere (I'll refer you their if I find a sight ).
posted on July 14, 2008 08:42:01 AM new
Perdue University Online Reading Lab:
Forming possessives of nouns
To see if you need to make a possessive, turn the phrase around and make it an "of the..." phrase. For example:
the boy's hat = the hat of the boy
three days' journey = journey of three days
If the noun after "of" is a building, an object, or a piece of furniture, then no apostrophe is needed!
room of the hotel = hotel room
door of the car = car door
leg of the table = table leg
Once you've determined whether you need to make a possessive, follow these rules to create one.
add 's to the singular form of the word (even if it ends in -s):
the owner's car
James's hat
add 's to the plural forms that do not end in -s:
the children's game
the geese's honking
add ' to the end of plural nouns that end in -s:
houses' roofs
three friends' letters
add 's to the end of compound words:
my brother-in-law's money
add 's to the last noun to show joint possession of an object:
Todd and Anne's apartment
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So it would be dog's bowl for singular dog and dogs' bowls for more than one dog.
[ edited by coach81938 on Jul 14, 2008 09:13 AM ]
posted on July 14, 2008 08:44:19 AM new
Yes..Yes!
It is not just in America it is happening.
yea my pet peeve is that lotsa peeps dont know what an upper case letter or any of that puncturing stuff is or how to spell and i also know that sum of it is because of text messaging and stuff but i think text messaging should never have been invented anyway.
It was difficult trying to write that way! My Grammar and punctuation are not as perfect as they were when I was younger but I do see that the world has changed and there is not much we can do about it!
posted on July 14, 2008 09:41:39 AM new
QUOTE: "The correct puncuation is "The dogs' bowl is outside - not the "dog's" bowl is outside. "dog's" translates into "dog is". "dogs'" is the posessive term with the apostrophe after the word."
You are incorrect. The apostrophe must be analyzed in written context to be used correctly. When spoken, all the usages sound the same.
"Honey, the dog's eating the petunias!" In this case, the 's is a contraction, and the sentence means, "Honey, the dog is eating the petunias."
"Honey, the dog's bowl is empty!" Here, the 's is a possessive, meaning, "Honey, the bowl belonging to the dog is empty!"
Finally, "Honey, the dogs' bowl is empty!" Now the s' is used as a plural possessive, and means,"Honey, the bowl belonging to the dogs is empty."
posted on July 14, 2008 09:56:25 AM new
[confession] Okay, I admit it, I can't break the habit of saying "Where's the keys?" I know better, honestly I do, but I just can't stop myself in time. [/confession]
posted on July 14, 2008 10:55:48 AM new
I find people use "your" instead of "you're" all the time. I guess that's the apostrophe use in reverse. Here in Canada, we have a wonderful word, "yous". "Are yous going to the store"
My pet peeve, especially by television announcers etc., is the incorrect use of adjectives. Like "she moves very graceful" instead of gracefully. "He ran very quick", instead of quickly. I am always shouting at my television!!
posted on July 14, 2008 12:11:41 PM new
I shout at the tv, too. Sometimes I laugh at it also, especially at newscasters who are not trying to be funny. I often notice misplaced modifiers - can't think of one at the moment - but I know it's common.
.
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___________ http://www.rubylane.com/shops/ceeceescollectibles
posted on July 14, 2008 12:49:33 PM new
Cashinyourcloset is correct. Both Dog's bowl and Dogs' bowl can be correct, depending on whether one or more than one dog is in possession of the bowl.
Everybody makes punctuation mistakes. Even those of us who like to think we know and practice the rules goof up once in a while, and misapply or misquote a rule.
A fun primer on punctuation is Lynne Truss' book "Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation".
posted on July 14, 2008 02:10:12 PM new
I think that pesky apostrophe has been hanging around for a long time. I once read an article decrying the habit and the example used was really funny. It is a little tricky to explain in polite company. The author saw a street vendor in London selling collectible pens with Prince Charles's picture. The sign said "Prince Charles Pen's" but the apostrophe was so large and placed so low in the word that it looked like an "i".
-----o----o----o----o----o----o----o----o
The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
posted on July 14, 2008 02:11:25 PM new
I am now almost afraid to post any replies just in case my punctuation is incorrect and my sentences may not be grammatically correct.
Wow..I got through that long sentence without using punctuation plus I even used the Spell Checker!
posted on July 14, 2008 03:43:57 PM new
Capolady: No, no! A dog belonging to one dog is a DOG'S BOWL. A dog belonging to two dogs is a DOGS' BOWL. Dog's does not mean "dog is," when it showing possession.
What I think you're talking about is a sentence like this: "The dog's been chewing on the furniture." One dog. Means "the dog has been".
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posted on July 14, 2008 03:48:49 PM new
I, too, find myself shouting at the TV. One of the most egregious is "for she and I." That person would never say "for she," or "for I," but somehow it's been pounded into him that "her and me," "him and me"; with the "and" becoming somehow a red flag to the ones who don't know this. A preposition, like "for, to, between, at, in, on," etc., takes the form we called "accusative" in Latin. Not sure what other languages would call it.
I have to admit I even heard Obama do this wrong, recently, and I cringed.
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posted on July 14, 2008 03:50:46 PM new
I'm sorry. I'm one of those people that can't apostrophe. I can't. I'm sorry. I've tried. Is there a 12 step program? Is there a pill? I even ordered cards from Vista Prints and put on it from the Lancaster's and not the Lancasters and well you know the rest. I had to throw them away as I never will live it down.....
posted on July 14, 2008 03:57:52 PM new
One problem is that children don't seem to be taught grammar in school anymore. My husband and I each have a niece in England who have been to university to train as teachers, and their grammer and spelling are DREADFUL! One uses no punctuation at all and no capitalization, the other puts "u" for "you", and many other shortforms that make the emails almost impossible to read. She'll say something like "I had a grate day", so what are they teaching their students?
posted on July 14, 2008 04:10:24 PM new
One of my favorite guaranteed overheard sentences was years ago at work, when someone asked a co-worker where John's office was, which happened to be near the co-workers cubicle. The response was "He sits over there by myself."
Anybody got a Mobius strip for diagramming that sentence?
My favorite part of the misuse of "myself" in place of "me" is that invariably it is a mistake made by those who are trying to speak at a higher level than they usually do. Normally people have no trouble saying "Bob and I will be presenting this PowerPoint snoozefest." It's only when they want to appear high-falutin' that they'll say "This presentation will be made by Bob and myself."
posted on July 14, 2008 05:25:12 PM new
There is one thing that makes me hurl large pieces of furniture at the TV. It isn't grammar as much as lame brained word choice. "The GENTLEMAN shot three people." The police chased the GENTLEMAN after he robbed the bank" etc.
TV announcers, police, bystanders.. why do they call a man who has shot, stabbed, robbed or committed other mayhem a GENTLEMAN? -----o----o----o----o----o----o----o----o
The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
posted on July 14, 2008 06:08:49 PM new
I screw up my apostrophes all the time but I do try. I admit I tried harder when I was in danger of being publicly shamed and slapped across the knuckles by nuns but I still do try.
Has anyone else noticed another new epidemic? I'm not sure exactly how to describe it but basically, instead of typing "this item needs to be cleaned" or "this item needs cleaning" they type "this item needs cleaned."
It's not just on eBay either. I now see it everywhere and it drives me nucking futs.
posted on July 14, 2008 07:28:10 PM new
"Has anyone else noticed another new epidemic? I'm not sure exactly how to describe it but basically, instead of typing "this item needs to be cleaned" or "this item needs cleaning" they type "this item needs cleaned."
I was born and raised in New York. One of my closest friends got married and moved to western Pennsylvania. The first time I visited her, I thought I was in the Twilight Zone. Everyone, including my friend, said things like "the baby needs washed" "the house needs cleaned" "the dog needs bathed."
My friend told me it was a regional thing. Guess it is more widespread than I thought.
posted on July 14, 2008 08:25:30 PM new
Aha, coach, funny you should bring that one up! I moved to this area of Central Pennsylvania 9 years ago from an adjacent county to the east and the very first thing I noticed was the lack of use of the verb "to be", as in "the car needs (to be)washed." I used to bust my better half's chops about it until I noticed I had picked it up, too!
I just got home from work and I'm catching up on all the replies to this thread. It's comforting to know I'm not losing my mind after all.
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posted on July 14, 2008 08:51:49 PM new
shething--another interesting word was youns (sp) which, I think, is the equivalent of the southern "y'all" and the Brooklynese "youse." My friend's husband and I used to have friendly arguments over the pronunciation of such words as orange. I pronounced it "orange" and he pronounced it "ornj."
posted on July 14, 2008 09:00:15 PM new
"Youins" is definitely western PA. Around here it's "yous" or "you guys". Have you ever had a waiter/waitress come to your table and say "what can I get you guys?" They say that here and I drives my step-mother up the wall. She tells them in no uncertain terms that she is not a guy. They look dumbfounded.
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posted on July 14, 2008 09:37:10 PM new
I don't recall a waiter/waitress using you guys, but have heard youse many times. I was born in Brooklyn and lived there as a child. Youse was very common there as well as in other parts of New York City. On Long Island, where I now live, I still hear an occasional youse from people who grew up in "the city."
