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 Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:18 am
I'm sure we're all familiar with apostrophes being inappropriately used in plurals. Shops offering "camera's" for sale. Supermarkets offering "tomato's" (or in extreme cases, "tomatoe's"). Warning signs advising us that the door are covered by surveillance "camera's".
What my significant other noticed was that these misplaced apostrophes are pretty much ALWAYS added to words with trailing vowels. It's much less likely to see a word like, for example, "vowel's", with an apostrophe following a consonant (though not unheard of).
Has anyone else noticed this? Does anyone have any alternative opinions on why this relentless abuse of the humble apostrophe might be taking place?
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Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 4:36 pm
I am simply amazed that people still use apostrophes anymore.
I flinch every time I see a contraction without and apostrophe! I told someone in my English 115 (Shakespeare) course that they needed and apostrophe in "I'm" and they asked, "what's that?"
Even after my explanation, they still had nothing more than a vague idea of what an apostrophe is, let alone how to use it.
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Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2008 6:16 am
eJayPierre Supermarkets offering "tomato's" (or in extreme cases, "tomatoe's"). Speaking of supermarkets, it really annoys me when signs combine the cent sign with a decimal point. (Instead of saying $.87 or 87¢, they'll say .87¢.) Okay, back on the topic of apostrophes: the "Ladie's" sign above the restroom at a Denny's near me! That used to bug the hell out of me (when I went there often).
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Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2008 3:15 pm
I'd like to bring up a discussion here in light of the recent Holiday.
Would it be Valentine's Day, or Valentines Day? Technically, it is a day in honor of St. Valentine, so wouldn't it be an apostrophe s to show ownership?
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Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2008 7:55 pm
Woodnut eJayPierre Supermarkets offering "tomato's" (or in extreme cases, "tomatoe's"). Speaking of supermarkets, it really annoys me when signs combine the cent sign with a decimal point. (Instead of saying $.87 or 87¢, they'll say .87¢.) That usually happens because the decimal point is built in or someones too lazy to change it. I am shamed by the lack of apostrophes (What would I do without spellcheck?!) in mundane situations. The main reason I believe why people use an apostrophe improperly at the end of a "vowel word" is probably because it looks wrong. Tomatos (improper spelling)/Tomatoes might not strike them as a proper plural, and for whatever reason, an apostrophe seems to correct that for them no matter how wrong they are. I'm not really sure on the whole Valentine discussion though, but I really think an apostrophe is needed.
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Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 9:51 am
A Hardcore Goldfish I'd like to bring up a discussion here in light of the recent Holiday. Would it be Valentine's Day, or Valentines Day? Technically, it is a day in honor of St. Valentine, so wouldn't it be an apostrophe s to show ownership? And Iko brings up an old topic again...
In answer to this, I always use an apostrophe, but you could also argue it's the day for sending valentines to people. But then I'd argue that valentines is technically a contraction of Valentine's Day gifts/chocolates/hearts/cards.
We never use the phrase 'sending valentines' without anything on the end in England, but I've heard and/or read it elsewhere.
Misplaced and missing apostrophes almost make me want to cry...especially on things like billboards.
I once sat in a restaurant and corrected the menu on the blackboard next to me.
Chocolatepanacea: I was simply horrified by that. Someone actually asked you what an apostrophe was? When they're old enough to be doing Shakespeare in school?
On a slightly different note: what do you people think of double apostrophes, such as in the word sha'n't?
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Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 7:11 pm
Wow. Most of these stories horrify me. <.> (Just so you know, that smiley is me with my eyes going different directions. It doesn't look too good to me, honestly, but whatever. I don't usually use smileys like that anyway.)
Most of that is almost as bad as the time when I was reading a story, and the authoress repeatedly spelled "want" as "wan't". And this person claimed to be in high school. I think this is a very stupid mistake, and I'm only in junior high.
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Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2009 12:34 pm
xXBisexual FlanXx Wow. Most of these stories horrify me. <.> (Just so you know, that smiley is me with my eyes going different directions. It doesn't look too good to me, honestly, but whatever. I don't usually use smileys like that anyway.)
Most of that is almost as bad as the time when I was reading a story, and the authoress repeatedly spelled "want" as "wan't". And this person claimed to be in high school. I think this is a very stupid mistake, and I'm only in junior high. What the hell is wan't? Have apostrophes moved from that thing that warns you there is an s coming to that thing that goes between an n and a t? The mind, it boggles.
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Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 11:50 am
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Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2009 5:20 pm
"Misusing apostrophe's--its modern art at it's finest!"
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Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2009 5:12 pm
Elanchana Oh no! Not zOMG!!
 They just meant that the feather is for Blaze. =D
Just missing a few words. Most of the sentence in fact...
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Posted: Sat May 30, 2009 1:45 pm
This is a very happy story you will all enjoy.
I was at Lomond Shores today (shops at the shores of Loch Lomond) and I saw a sign on a photo booth that said, "Photo's = £3.50" or something. I was about to yell at it when I looked closely and saw a very faint red cross over it. Someone had corrected it!
I couldn't stop smiling for ten minutes after that.
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Posted: Sat May 30, 2009 3:39 pm
I'm actually kind of appalled at how many stores and such add apostrophes right and left, you'd think that they'd be better about it, being somewhat official and all.
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Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 5:12 pm
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 1:27 pm
Ugh! That drives me nuts!
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Reply
