Apostrophe or not?

SandraDee · #1 December 16th, 2003, 06:08 PM

Does anyone know why the Chocolats put an apostrophe before the 's'? Should there be a noun after their name that belongs to them (e.g. Chocolat's records) or is it abbreviated for 'is' (e.g. Chocolat's good) or is it always put there in error? Sorry to be anal but I need to know as it irritates me whenever I look at the LP sleeve & single label! :evil:

Bernie · #2 December 16th, 2003, 06:11 PM

Always wondered about that as well!

SandraDee · #3 December 16th, 2003, 06:16 PM

Glad its not just me! Maybe Belgians use apostrophes in a different way. :-?

Forrrce · #4 December 16th, 2003, 06:23 PM

Considering 90% of English-speakers use apostrophes incorrectly, i.e. "Steely Dan's '70s Disco" will more often than not be written "Steely Dans 70's Disco" :roll:, I'm surprised anybody would notice :D :D :D ...but it's nice to get that off my chest, anyway!
:lol:

SandraDee · #5 December 16th, 2003, 06:34 PM

It's one of my pet hates Forrrce. My boss sent me an e-mail today saying 'the coffee's are on me' - why the apostrophe? The coffee's what are on him exactly?!

BrunoRepublic · #6 December 16th, 2003, 06:44 PM

My theory is that they added the apostraphe because it looked more English, thus foreign and hip. Too bad they got it wrong.

My personal pet-hate-misplaced-apostraphe is the one in CDs and DVDs. I see this EVERYWHERE, even on professional signs and websites. The only conceivable correct use that I can think for "CD's" is if you're referring to something belonging to Celine Dion, and just going by her initials. i.e. "That's not a garden gnome; it's CD's husband."

An earlier version of the manual for the billing platform that I work on consistently used the term "plug-in's". I cringed every time I read it.

SandraDee · #7 December 16th, 2003, 06:45 PM

I suppose in certain circumstances like us chatting on this forum it doesn't bother me that much but when I see it printed on record covers or adverts on vans by supposedly professional printers it really bugs me.

Bernie · #8 December 16th, 2003, 06:45 PM

There is a US retailer called "Lands' End" and they readily acknowledge that it is incorrect usage. Even so, they decided to keep the name anyway.

As for Chocolat's I guess it was simply an error that stuck.

markydefad · #9 December 16th, 2003, 07:32 PM

And always remember it is Gary TOMS Empire...NOT Gary Tom's Empire....the last name was TOMS, not a possessive. :roll:

NickNack · #10 December 16th, 2003, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

It's one of my pet hates Forrrce. My boss sent me an e-mail today saying 'the coffee's are on me' - why the apostrophe? The coffee's what are on him exactly?!

I hear ya, Steely. Sadder still is that I understand your boss' contraction: "The coffee is on me". Society's need for everything to be quick and fast shows up in our speech. I'm not an English major but I guess it should really be: "The coffee, it's on me".

Of course, that could mean he's paying for it or he just spilled it all over himself :roll: . F*&% IT! "Hey guys, I'm buying the coffee today." How's that?

:D

QUINNY · #11 December 16th, 2003, 07:57 PM

Right now, December 17th 2003, England is possibly the worst place in the world for the misuse of English. Go to any 50p store, any market, car dealership, small shop, office etc and you can see the misuse of the apostrophe s everywhere. As a nation we are so damned ignorant. The little English I know was forced into my brain, 'cos as a child I really didn't see the point of English Language lessons. None of the English I read in books ever sounded anything like the English that was spoken by my family, friends and contemporaries at school. It was like something from another age, another planet.......or so I thought. In fact I was so anti-English lessons of any sort, that I refused to read any fiction books.
Therefore, if I mess up occasionally, now you know why.

Forrrce · #12 December 16th, 2003, 08:26 PM

Unfortunately, most people assume that an apostrophe before an 's' constitutes a plural. This is by far the most common misuse - and even though it's fairly routine and everyday, it never fails to rile me. For some reason, this rampant misuse looks even more ridiculous on longer words.

In the abbreviation context, the apostrophe's inevitably misplaced for the worst. "1970s" - yes. "1970's" - no, unless immediately followed with something pertaining to the year 1970.
" '70s" - yes. "70's" - no, for exactly the same reasons. "70s' " is practically abused, 100%. But no-one seems to learn. I spent a lot of time on the internet and standards of grammar are pretty poor, across the board, wherever you look. Gawd 'elp us.

And another thing...why does all Microsoft documentation, on the web, paper, software or whatever, have commas before the word 'and', like it's going out of fashion? All these unnecessary pauses send me 'round the bend! I need to sit down... :roll:

ladyboygrimsby · #13 December 17th, 2003, 04:48 AM

The situation is hardly helped by the BBC who routinely misuse the apostrophe on news captions. My local library also has "DVD's" advertised on its plaque outside. If both the library service and the BBC can't be bothered to set an English standard, what hope is there for the rest of the population? I went in and complained to the library and they didn't even seem to understand what I was saying, so I gave up.

If you know any functionally illiterate English users, I'd recommend buying them Eats Shoots Leaves by Lynne Truss for Christmas. It's a paean to good punctuation and funny, too.

Nano · #14 December 17th, 2003, 11:09 AM

Some years ago, in Argentina streets you could see a whole new craze about stores with names ending with that 's, to put some English flavor. Problem was, it was added not only to Spanish names (like "Susana's") but also in plurals, because in Spanish most of them end with an S. So instead of "Bananas" you had "Banana's", which, of course, means nothing out of the mind of the guy who wrote it. Verrry irritative! :evil: