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Pastimes : SI Grammar and Spelling Lab -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Janice Shell who wrote (138)	1/2/1998 4:50:00 PM
From: Jack Clarke	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 4711

Janice: Zeev had some questions about the apostrophe and I went over some of the basics with him in an earlier post. Your question has to do with why people feel they need to put in erroneous apostrophes to confirm that their word really is plural; the s just isn't enough for them. Belt and suspenders, you know. If in doubt, put in that apostrophe or punctution mark. Of course I haven't any idea why they do it, other than the general level of illiteracy in our society. The worst form of this error is seen on printed Christmas cards, wishing you SEASON'S GREETINGS FROM THE CARTER'S. And I always ask rhetorically, "The Carter's what? House? Dog? Family?" I also do rhetorical answers to TV personalities. For example: Talk show host: "Do you think the media is biased?" My answer: "Yes, they is. And stupid, too." Zeev had some pertinent questions regarding the use of the apostrophe to form the plural of acronymic objects, like VCRs, or with numerical objects, like the 1990s. I can see where this use would be perhaps more excusable, but I still don't like it. Jack

To: Janice Shell who wrote (138)	1/2/1998 4:53:00 PM
From: Andy Dennie	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 4711

Regarding pluralizing via apostrophes: I don't know how to explain it, but despite the fact that this usage bothers me too, I often find that I have committed the error myself. In other words, I know it's wrong, but somehow during the translation from brain to typed text, apostrophes have a way of creeping in unwanted. I often catch them when proofreading my own work. I wonder how many others have had this experience, and how many of the occurrences we see daily are not the result of ignorance, but the same type of synaptic spasm that seems to afflict me.

To: Janice Shell who wrote (138)	1/2/1998 5:02:00 PM
From: Tommaso	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4711

"Fogey" may have something to do with "foggy" or possibly with the idea of being covered with moss or slime. It was used in the eighteenth century for retired soldiers. I think the general idea is somewhat like being stuck in the mud or lost in the fog--left in past. My penultimate vocabulary acquisition was "swashbuckling"--brought up last week on "Prairie Home Companion." That comes from "buckler" --or shield--plus to "swash" or to bang on. So a swashbuckler goes around banging his shield with his sword. His or her shield, I mean. Maybe an old fogey is a former swashbuckler.