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Original poster

Grammar Police v Wedding Party *MNHQ tweaked title at OP's request*

191 replies

WillLiveLifeAgain · 01/10/2024 15:27

I'm usually OK with grammar but this one has me scratching my head. Probably lack of sleep (not over this).

Went to a wedding at the weekend. They had one of those neon signs with their surname but added an apostrophe. So it said

The Smith's (name changed)

Shouldn't it have said The Smiths? There were four of them including children. Not one belonging to something/someone.

I'm very happy to be proved wrong. I'm not a grammar nazi but would hope something like that would have been right?

I know this is AIBU so disclaimer obviously what matters is the happy marriage of two loving people not an apostrophe.

OP posts:
ParrotPirouette · 01/10/2024 21:06

NewtyCutey · 01/10/2024 17:10

There wrong. Your right.

I can’t work out if you’re being amusing or thick 🤣

maudelovesharold · 01/10/2024 21:03

I saw a photo that my local tattooist uploaded the other day of one she'd just done that said 'know you're worth'. I actually couldn't believe that neither her or the person having it done thought to just double check that it was right

If the person ever notices, it can be easily fixed if they go back to the tattooist and get ‘it’ added at the end!

Lollypop701 · 01/10/2024 20:49

Hmm might open a stationary shop with pen’s in the title 😂🙈

GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut · 01/10/2024 20:49

TheFireflies · 01/10/2024 20:42

There’s a taxi company near me whose sign proudly proclaims “Bobs Car’s”

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It was a 50/50 chance really...

I've a friend who in our local pub (who were a heller for tomatoe, potatoe, chip's and pea's) took to dipping his finger in his pint and surruptitiously correcting the blackboard.

MelodyMalone · 01/10/2024 20:47

WingSluts · 01/10/2024 15:48

The one that really boggles me is when this happens to some items in a list but not others. For example:

We went out to buy bread rolls, tomatoe's, apples and three do-nut's.

They don't know which is right so they're covering all bases?

I used to have a boss who couldn't write a word ending in the letter S without randomly putting an apostrophe either before or after it. Or both, in some memorable instances.

TheFireflies · 01/10/2024 20:42

WingSluts · 01/10/2024 15:48

The one that really boggles me is when this happens to some items in a list but not others. For example:

We went out to buy bread rolls, tomatoe's, apples and three do-nut's.

There’s a taxi company near me whose sign proudly proclaims “Bobs Car’s”

halava · 01/10/2024 20:41

I would have said the "Smith" wedding myself.

It's ok I'm ducking down right now.

Temptingspread · 01/10/2024 20:41

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

MereDintofPandiculation · 01/10/2024 20:39

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This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

Yes, of course it’s wrong, but it seems to explain a lot of the misplaced apostrophes.

And we think it’s wrong now, but 50 years down the line it will probably be a genuine rule, just as “different to” is now standard, and didn’t the OED say effectively that “literally “ does mean “metaphorically “?

Original poster
WillLiveLifeAgain · 01/10/2024 20:38

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

I should have or is it of?

OP posts:
Temptingspread · 01/10/2024 20:36

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This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

ISeriouslyDoubtIt · 01/10/2024 20:35

pinksquash13 · 01/10/2024 20:27

I read it as the Smith's family (family implied). The family belonging to the Smiths

No, the family does not belong to the Smiths, more than one Smith is just the Smith family or the Smiths. It would be the Smith family's ( family is singular) dog or the Smiths' ( more than one Smith so plural) dog.

Gigihadid · 01/10/2024 20:34

They probably got it on the cheap. An online thing where it just produces exactly what you write and gets shoved in a box for posting. A lot of these things have disclaimers that they’ll print what you enter and it won’t be checked before production.

Original poster
WillLiveLifeAgain · 01/10/2024 20:33

floradora · 01/10/2024 19:25

I loathe it because being particular about correct grammar really, really isn't on a par with fascist ideology, white supremacism and genocide.

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Don’t you think it’s more of a colloquial term than fascist ideology, white supremacism and genocide? But being all offended about the albeit ill used term is more important.

OP posts:
ISeriouslyDoubtIt · 01/10/2024 20:30

pinksquash13 · 01/10/2024 20:25

The Atkins' dog.

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I thought it would be the Atkinses', ie the dog belonging to all the Atkins family. More than one family member would be Atkinses plural surely? It's the Atkins family's dog or the Atkinses' dog.

pinksquash13 · 01/10/2024 20:27

I read it as the Smith's family (family implied). The family belonging to the Smiths

JudgeJ · 01/10/2024 20:26

MelodyMalone · 01/10/2024 19:33

Saw a t-shirt in a well known department store a few years ago with the slogan "Don't fancy your's much".

When our daughter was baptised we received a lovely, clearly expensive, card from a distant relative, Congratulations on you're daughters Christening. It surprised me because the sender was a very well educated woman, my OH said she'd probably asked her husband to buy it and not looked too carefully at it.

pinksquash13 · 01/10/2024 20:25

ISeriouslyDoubtIt · 01/10/2024 20:16

Correct. Also should be the Atkinses' dog i.e. the dog belonging to all the Atkins family.

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The Atkins' dog.

JudgeJ · 01/10/2024 20:20

Maurepas · 01/10/2024 17:27

Are people not taught this when 12 years or younger?

Like lots of things, it is taught, but unless the recipient is willing to learn it's flogging a dead horse especially when the parent complains that her precious is made ill when expected to exert themselves, we got a lot of that nonsense in the Maths Department too!

ISeriouslyDoubtIt · 01/10/2024 20:16

MelodyMalone · 01/10/2024 19:38

The Smiths' dog, surely?

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Correct. Also should be the Atkinses' dog i.e. the dog belonging to all the Atkins family.

gotmyknickersinatwist · 01/10/2024 20:12

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

Its use here is coming from the verb police, not the noun.

outdamnedspots · 01/10/2024 20:02

Hoppinggreen · 01/10/2024 15:45

There is a plaque on a memorial bench in a place we visit often and it says something along the lines of "if love could of saved you"
Gives me the rage, I appreciate that sometimes people make grammatical errors or spelling mistakes but when its by a "professional" it makes me very cross

But they're a professional sign engraver. They're not a professional proofreader. But they need one!

outdamnedspots · 01/10/2024 20:00

Pogggle · 01/10/2024 15:37

If it makes you feel any better, I saw a photo that my local tattooist uploaded the other day of one she'd just done that said 'know you're worth'. I actually couldn't believe that neither her or the person having it done thought to just double check that it was right 😬

🙄😂😬🫣

outdamnedspots · 01/10/2024 20:00

Boskit · 01/10/2024 15:37

I loathe the term 'grammar nazi'. There's nothing fascistic about being able to use one's native language with accuracy and discrimination. Once upon a time they used to teach it in schools - imagine!

They teach a lot more grammar in primary schools now than they have done for years!

Puzzledandpissedoff · 01/10/2024 19:51

Also reminds me of the story about the old Yorkshireman who lost his wife, and asked the stonemason to carve on her headstone "God she was thine"

Imagine his horror to find that instead they'd put "God she was thin"
... but never mind; on explaining they'd missed the "e" has was assured it would be changed

And so it was; next time he visited, he read "E god she was thin"