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 ...
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.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by coconutnut.
I'd walk round with a long stick with a marker pen on the end, and a bell. My duties would include correcting errant apostrophes, then ringing the bell loudly to expostulate on what had been wrong and why it was now better.
Actually, the interview with the bloke that I saw, he certainly wasn't a grammar fascist. He happily admitted that he isn't the final word on the subject and that people might come along and correct him, but that at least he was trying to put right the more obvious ones.
"He also gets annoyed when people neglect the 'Royal' in 'Royal Tunbridge Wells'..."
"Mr Gatward moved into his flat in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, 14 months ago."
"A spokesman for Tunbridge Wells council..."
poor guy...
Larfin. You wrote "Nazi's" instead of "Nazis". Why?
Dale. The point is that if there is no distinction when to use an apostrophe and when not to, then there ends up with no point using an apostrophe at all, right?
Cancer evolves
All things that evolve are cancer
Got it.
I hope Mr. Gatward does not spend much time online, his head might explode.
I still spell theatre, "Theatre".
So leave him be.
Tsk, language!
Whether he's write or wrong is one for the history books. I'm just surprised someone cares enough to threaten to call the police.
Language evolves
Cancer evolves
Evolving doesn't neccessarily mean that something is good and shouldn't be stopped.
So his paintbrush-wielding was not a reaction to a language's natural evolution but to bureaucratic interference. Huzzah!
I've been tempted to join the Apostrophe Posse myself at times, though my fantasies never stretched beyond strategically placed Post-it Notes -- not only to add the needed but to obscure the unnecessary (the so-called "greengrocers' apostrophes"). And sometimes to add a curl to a straight hatchmark being used as an apostrophe (but that's a typographical issue, not a grammatical one)...
Speaking of sign augmentation/vandalism.... There was a Los Angeles artist, Richard Ankrom, who added on to a overhead freeway sign on the 110 to show the proper lane to be in to make the transition to the 5 North. In broad daylight, wearing appropriate construction-worker gear, trying to match style and color as exactly as possible. Caltrans decided to keep it up!
language evolves
cancer evolves(cancer is bad)
all things that evolve are bad
got it ;)
Duh..
Most of the so-called grammar rules - the Split Infinitive thing for instance - were unknown in our language prior to 150 years ago or so. They were imported by pretentious victorian fops who were obsessed with Latin, and hit upon the stupid idea of superimposing Latin rules on a germanic language that has no real relationship to it.
So my vote is that the guy is a "Vandalizing Grammar Nazi." He'll be the first one up against the wall when the linguistic revolution comes, beat to death by a bunch of esperanto enthusiasts who will themselves be beat to death by a bunch of flabby mammas boys speaking klingon.
Then the rest of us will enjoy a nice fried chicken picnic and go home content in the knowledge that there'll be no more gramatically-based pain or suffering in the anglophonic world.
Excepting the whole "I-before-E" thing, of course...
http://www.funnyjunk.com/funny_pictures/35612/fail/
I often joke in grocery stores that the paper, pens & tape will "never move," while pointing to the "Stationary" sign.
Also, I got my business partner to correctly order two Burritos Supreme at Taco Bell instead of two Burrito Supremes.
Being simultaneously pedantic and incorrect is always an entertaining combo... Would you call up the dealership and order two Fords Mustang, Nicholas?
I'm sure he wouldn't since "Mustang" is the noun and Ford is the adjective (a noun acting as an adjective, to be more precise). In "Burrito Supreme," "Burrito" is the noun and is therefore the correct word to be pluralized.
Incidentally, having an adjective follow a noun is rare in English, but it does happen. Other examples:
attorneys general
courts martial
poets laureate
heirs apparent
http://www.theslot.com/than.html
Yes, language evolves. That doesn't mean that there aren't any rules, or that those rules shouldn't be followed.
Does anybody have his email address? I'd very much like to hear his opinion on the use of dashes in web addresses:-
http://www.timacheson.com/Blog/2009/aug/friendly_url_should_not_use_dashes_to_represent_spaces
My English professor would have pissed himself laughing at this guy and you lot.
Full disclosure:
English is not my first language.
Ha! Burn sukkaz!
http://www.theslot.com/than.html"
That's just moving the problem. It should still be "10 items [or fewer than that.]"
my favorite, seen on Broadway near Larch in Vancouver BC, on a restaurant sign:
"We do catering."
That lack of apostrophe always annoyed me too.
Burritos Supreme vs Burrito Supremes: Buttito Supreme is a name (because both words are capitalized) so "Burrito Supremes" is correct.
"Catering" carries the connotation (to the local readers) of food catering. "We cater" could leave the reader wondering to whom they cater.
"10 items or less" is seen in Wal-Mart and Winn Dixie (a low-priced, poor service food store); "10 items or fewer" is seen in Publix (a higher-priced food store.
''''''''''''''''!!!!! Take that! Apostrophe abuser!
The English language is the standard for the world because, while difficult to master, it admits to the precision demanded in a technological world. Incorrect usage of apostophes is not evolution, but poor training met with a lack of concern about communication. Why would someone knowingly choose to misuse an apostrophe? Because it looks better that way, or the word is no longer a word, but a graphic(?) so what it "means" doesn't matter?
The real problem is that he did not pay the required apostro fee.
Regarding missing apostrophes:
Nazi, or to Nazi, the apostrophe, that is the question.
Not see, or to not see, the apostrophe, that is the question.
Which is better? The pun on Nazi or the second sentence?
Come on now, why do so many people keep using the Nazi word when the behavior they are describing is nothing like what the Nazi party and its members/government did during its buildup and reign in the decades covering 1920-1950?
Old joke: How did Hitler tie his shoe?
Answer: With little Nazis.
The real problem is that he did not pay the required apostro fee.
Regarding missing apostrophes:
Nazi, or to Nazi, the apostrophe, that is the question.
Not see, or to not see, the apostrophe, that is the question.
Which is better? The pun on Nazi or the second sentence?
Come on now, why do so many people keep using the Nazi word when the behavior they are describing is nothing like what the Nazi party and its members/government did during its buildup and reign in the decades covering 1920-1950?
Old joke: How did Hitler tie his shoe?
Answer: With little Nazis.
Now, let's discuss the incorrect use of pronouns. This is really something that makes me want to scream.
Stefan, meet Bob. Bob, meet Stefan.
At least she used the plural form, so it wasn't totally wrong.
Perhaps the worst example yet was the sign for Spokane, Washington's public schools, which read something like, "One in eight Spokane students drop out." If the public school system cannot even make a simple subject and verb agree, how inspiring must its curriculum be to students?
The object of Carl's and Jr. was contracted out of existence; the original name of the establishment was "Carl's Junior Restaurant". The Restaurant part got dropped and the Junior went to Jr., to make the sign easier to read - or so I was told, years ago.
Much the way shoppers at the A&P store may never have heard of "The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company", or residents of "La Puebla de Nuestra Senora, Reiña de los Angeles" refer to it by the initials of the last two words.
I was always taught that you should not start a sentance with a conjunction or a preposition. How does the Bible start?
It should not be the Society for Pedants it should be the Socity of Pedants!
For instance, American schools might yammer on about the apostrophe for use in contractions and possessives. They attempt to explain the latter as a manner in which to shorten the phrase, "the _______ belonging to the ______." Uncommon, however, is the teacher who explains the possessive is itself a contraction, a remnant from Old English in which the suffix '-es' was appended to words.
Even more rare is the teacher who'll go beyond that as a mere, dry fact and engage the pupil's natural curiosity and sense of wonder. The realms of beauty, history, and identity which may be found in language may be hinted at, but they're usually not revealed.
It may well be a lack of time, an overcrowded classroom, or whatever obstacle-of-the-month an educator wishes to cite, but it results in a lack of engagement with, and connection to, language. It becomes just another tool among many, one that a person really doesn't have to care too much about. Disinterest ensues, wonderment is lost, and students (we) go on to grasp at all the other bright and shiny tools offered up by the educational establishment.
After all, it's much easier to drown out the intuition of a piece of oneself that's missing if the senses are dulled from overload; much easier to advance into the dazzles of technology if one doesn't have to admit it an intimate part of who and what he or she is.
TL;DR -
Language is an important part of being human. Evolution is unavoidable, but how much of our humanity do we want to slaughter? Perhaps this choice is ultimately the deciding factor between "progress" and "cancer."
Dear taka, you began your post with "While I could care less about the whole debate...." In order to be able to care less about a particular subject than one cares presently, one would have to care to some degree, at least a little bit. If you meant to state that you did not care at all, you missed the mark. Of course, it would be simplest just to say "I don't care," but in the interest of verbosity or emphasis, one might properly state that one "could not care less." This implies that one's state of concern is so abysmally low that a reduction is not possible. To put this concept in the vernacular, one would have a "zero care factor."
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.
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!
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...