Punctuation Hero or Vandalizing Grammar Nazi?

Stefan Gatward has been wrestling with inner turmoil ever since the Birmingham city council began removing the apostrophes from the city's signs this January.

Finally, his frustration was too much to bear, and Stefan took it upon himself to fix the signs. But he didn't stop there ...

He will not join the 'five items or less' queue at the supermarket, in protest that the sign should read 'five items or fewer'.

He also gets annoyed when people-neglect the 'Royal' in 'Royal Tunbridge Wells', and was vexed when he saw a major chain store advertising sales with signs saying 'until stocks last' rather than 'while stocks last'.

'I fought for the preservation of our heritage and our language but some people seem happy to let that go. I'm not,' he said.

Link - via tywkiwdbi

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by coconutnut.


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While normally irritated with improper punctuation and grammar when encountered in daily life, I am going to have to side with the poster above who states that Burrito Supremes is the correct way to order more than one of a Burrito Supreme. Simply put, the word "Supreme" in Burrito Supreme is not governed by the usual rules concerning adjectives in this sense. It is merely part of the entire title of that particular menu item. It would be like going to a restaurant and ordering two Salisburys steak. Obviously you would say Salisbury steaks because the entire phrase "Salisbury steak" is what you are ordering. At a normal Mexican restaurant if you are ordering two burritos, supreme style, well then yes, you would certainly say "two burritos supreme." At Taco Bell, however, a Burrito Supreme is a Burrito Supreme. Also, I am aware that there are probably many punctuation issues in this post, but frankly, everybody's human, so I don't think I'm going to lose any sleep over it.
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I'm just surprised at all the spelling errors people who correct others make.

Something that should be fixed in the english language is it needs to be more phonetic. What is up with the silent letters? Or the "ch" making a "k" sound? And all the vowels make all kinds of sounds. It can be very difficult for a foreigner to learn. Maybe text-speak will fix some of those problems...
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"Jack, Grammarians usually ARE educated writers. Did you think they came from some strange planet just to upset lazy ignoramuses?"

Yes, pretty much actually. But to the difference: the educated writers who are referenced in descriptive grammar analyses don't include grammarians themselves. Descriptive comparisons would lose all meaning if grammarians were included as examples, since it is the grammarians directives that are being assessed. But I think you already knew why grammarians, who are merely writers about writing, would be excluded, right? What I find most amusing in descriptive references are the numerous examples of grammarians contradicting their own rules, often applying the usage in the very same assertion in which they are condemning it!
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I support this poor fellow. It's true that some phrases or words change in time, but in my point of view english speakers not only have to prevail the correct use of the language, they have to also realize that 90% of the non-english population is trying to learn the language and when apostrophes, words or phrases are misused, it just confuses the other people trying to learn it.
I'm not refering to day-to-day conversation but at least in governmental signs or shopping windows, i guess i mean public displays.
Just because we have gotten used to hear or read phrases like "10 items or less" it doesn't mean it's the correct way.
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