Shouldn't a school know how apostrophies work?

[telecom_goddess]

Correct it and send it back to the school. Put a big red "F" on the top corner.



Bannannas, do do dododo,
bannanna, do do do do,
bannanna, do do dododo, dododo, dododo, dodododododo do do dodo do...

(I couldn't have been the only one thinking this...)

I had forgotten that thanks for the reminder I think...

And yeah I like the F in the corner idea

[Primer]

1. On the door to the Adjunct Faculty Office's (sic) I share is a sign reminding faculty "to only meet with one student at a time." There is a bit more on there, but that's what I specifically remember. It has been heavily edited. <Primer looks around innocently...>

2. When I was in Junior High (7th grade?) my P.E. teacher sent a U-Note home with me stating that I was "beligerint." Oh heck yes, I pointed out the spelling error to her! My mom just laughed, and signed it.

[Imogene]

There used to be a sign on the door to the patio by the coffee shop, that said in nice big letters: "Not a exit"
I winced every time I walked by, partially because it hurt, and part because I didn't want to see it.

[Sparky]

Okay, remember this?

I mean, it's probably some secretary laying the thing out and all, it's not like they're getting an English or Spelling teacher to do it (nothing on secretaries, but I'm just saying I can forgive a secretary for making a typo. Not so much someone whose job it is to not make typos, if you follow me.)

What?! How DARE you imply that I don't know more about punctuation than a college professor just because I'm a secretary!?

Okay, kidding. Sarcasm off. But some of them (professors) are truly pathetic at grammar.

Grammar Nazi warning:

You know, the " ' " symbol means more than "this is in the possessive." It can also mean "here is a space holder for a letter intentionally dropped." Like the word "e'en" as a poetic for "even." (We use these all the time in the Ren Faire.)

Of course, this had more meaning when all the vowels were pronounced. Or should I say "pronounc-ed" (which then, with only two syllables becomes "pronounc'd.")


Admittedly, it's not common usage, but it is acceptable.

It's also used in contractions, such as I've, he's, hadn't, etc., when two words are smashed together.

[seigus]

One day my daughter came home with a note from her LANGUAGE ARTS TEACHER that clearly showed the teacher did not know the difference between they're and their.

[42_42_42]

I carry a black marker in my purse.

I've been known to use said marker to correct signage. It's not vandalism if you're correcting spelling and/or grammar errors. Right?

[underemployeed]

I'm a technical person, and if you don't give me spell check it shows. You really think multiple people would be collaborating on a school newsletter, especially idk have an English teach proof it?

[Gizmo]

One day my daughter came home with a note from her LANGUAGE ARTS TEACHER that clearly showed the teacher did not know the difference between they're and their.

O.o Not good!

I had a colleague who wrote audit reports who didn't know the difference between Our and Are as well as They're and Their. He asked me to proof a report for him and in 5 pages I came up with about 30 wrong usages of our and they're instead of are and their. He just shrugged when I handed it back to him marked with the changes like it wasn't important.

"They're stock reports our overvalued" was one of the examples I think. Our client who was financing this company on their stock wouldn't have been happy to receive that.

(completely separate vent and separate person: I have a friend who can't get their head around Lent and Borrowed. They will write things like "they borrowed to me.." and "I lent from them..." This one makes me itch to correct them more than the are/our and there/they're.)

[Mikkel]

Makes me think of this.

"But we don't want to teach 'em," replied the Badger. "We want to learn 'em—learn 'em, learn 'em! And what's more, we're going to do it, too!"

[dalesys]

... the absence of 'sped' and 'pled' from the vocrapyoularry of talking heads...


Re: the thread title: Silly Kinkit! 'Trophies are for sports! What the hell kind of game is 'apos', anyway?

[Ironclad Alibi]

I had a colleague who wrote audit reports who didn't know the difference between Our and Are as well as They're and Their. He asked me to proof a report for him and in 5 pages I came up with about 30 wrong usages of our and they're instead of are and their.

It possible he was using voice input to dictate the text to the computer? That many occurances suggest that to me, and he didn't bother to proof it himself. Otherwise, what a maroon.

[Chromatix]

Actually, most SR software has logic (called a Hidden Markov Model) to deal with precisely that problem. In other words, they look at the grammatical context to see which of possible homophones (and near-homophones) was meant.

In the specific case of "They're stock reports our overvalued", it would recognise that "overvalued" is an adjective and "reports" could be a plural noun (it can also be a present-tense verb, but that doesn't fit before an adjective that doesn't have it's own noun), so "are" fits better between them than "our". The state set up by this realisation would also reveal that "They are stock reports" is not the intended meaning, but "Their" fits well in the overall sentence. Incidentally, "They are stock reports" would actually reinforce the determination that "reports" is a noun and not a verb.

Yes, computers have to use that convoluted logic to work it out. Us humans do it intuitively.

[Gizmo]

It possible he was using voice input to dictate the text to the computer? That many occurances suggest that to me, and he didn't bother to proof it himself. Otherwise, what a maroon.

No unfortunately he'd been typing it and done it himself with no technology to be blamed. Yes, he was a maroon and most of the staff really didn't like him.

[greek_jester]

Yes, he was a maroon and most of the staff really didn't like him.

Is "maroon" a derogatory name that no-one told me about? I thought "maroon" was a colour and "to maroon" was to strand someone somewhere, traditionally an island. Wasn't the insult "moron"? *is confused*

[Ironclad Alibi]

Is "maroon" a derogatory name that no-one told me about? I thought "maroon" was a colour and "to maroon" was to strand someone somewhere, traditionally an island. Wasn't the insult "moron"? *is confused*

Calling an idiot a "maroon" comes from the Bugs Bunny cartoons. Bugs often called the idiots "maroons" instead if "morons." It has become a classic line. Here is the link again.