To not buy a product due to erroneous apostrophes?

[PavlovtheCat]

It is an otherwise appropriate product and to be fair, there is only one misuse of apostrophe. I can even see why they have placed it; if in doubt add an apostrophe, right? Wrong.

But, it makes me think they have not had their website proofread, which then leads me think they are not such a professional business. This in turn concerns me should there be a problem with the product in terms of customer service and aftercare. And, if I am completely honest, it makes me feel a little bit irrationally grumpy.

Am I Being Unreasonable? DH thinks I am being so.

[TheRealFellatio]

sorry for all the typos, in a rush.

[cardamomginger]

YANBU. I almost didn't send DD to an otherwise excellent nursery because the name of the nursery involved the wanton (and deliberate - which somehow makes it worse) misuse of 'z' in place of 's' and 'k' in place of 'c'.

[PavlovtheCat]

I have to consciously make an effort to write 'definitely' correctly. I know how to spell it. I know there is no 'a' in it, yet, my finger puts it there without me looking. Same as 'ie/ei'. I know which way these need to be used and when, yet, I type them the wrong way every single time, knowing it's not the right way and then having to change it.

The problem with pedantry threads, is you have to be perfect in your own words to avoid the hand rubbing and cackling of others. It's almost impossible, once you have typed on a pedantry thread to get through the rest of it without making at least one error in your typing. I have had to proof my own writing on here badly

'the door is alarmed' has just made me chuckle out loud.

[Nanny0gg]

police were called to a theft from an insecure shed.
Aw bless.

[PseudoBadger]

Can I just mention the increased use of 'expiration dates' Arrrrggggh!!!

[Tuftysquirrel]

An advert for a 'Villains and Heroe's Party' at a local sports club.

Still makes me irate months later.

[KittensoftPuppydog]

Council signs in Sussex 'no BBQ's and no 'HGV's'. Dh loves to point them out to see me froth at the mouth.

[PavlovtheCat]

I've just had a conversation with DH about this thread. He has made me quite, quite He said that as long as the point is understood, it DOES NOT MATTER if there are erroneous apostrophes and incorrect spellings. He said that using the word 'except' instead of 'accept' was fine, 'do you know what they are trying to say? yes! so, what's the big deal?'

He also did this when I told him the signs about 'insecure shed' and 'door is alarmed'. He was not amused by that and said he 'despairs' of my pedantry.

I mean, I knew he was not a pedant (his grammar and spelling is appalling) and he likes to take the piss out of my own pedantry from time to time; but this is just, just, well

[DarceyBissell]

Pavlov - LTIB (the I is fir illiterate) .

[DarceyBissell]

...for...bugger.

[PavlovtheCat]

[Archetype]

ooo I know why Tesco is Tesco, the founder was Jack Cohen and the first product he bought was tea from t.e. stockwell.

[Lovecat]

Definitely LTB. :o

There is a sign at our railway station that gives me the rage every time I see it:

"Please don't run on the stairs - its better to miss your train than break your leg"



Also at the brand new hospital nearby someone has made engraved signs for all the assessment rooms, spelled 'Asessment' I mentioned this to the nurse in charge as it gave my inner pedant the screaming abdabs and she was entirely 'meh' about it.

Regarding something someone said earlier in the thread about signwriters making these signs with horrible typos and errors of grammar, until she retired last year my mother used to work for a sign makers. She was meant to be the book keeper but she was unable to keep her innate pedantry in check and ended up correcting so many mistakes that she was also the Company's official spell checker...

After a particularly arsey client insisted they made a sign that was misspelled, however, they brought in a rule that the client had to write out exactly what they wanted and sign to say that they accepted this was how they wanted the sign, as what tended to happen was they would make a sign as the client had demanded, then about 2 weeks later when the town's pedants had pointed and laughed, the client would storm back and demand a new sign gratis as they had made a 'mistake' on their precious sign...

(I'm sure that paragraph sentence is entirely ungrammatical but hey...)

[TolliverGroat]

Oh, Pavlov, I'm so sorry. That must have come as a terrible shock to you.

I hate to raise it, but... do you think there could be a genetic element to it? Perhaps you should get your DCs checked over by a grammarian as a matter of urgency.

[Earthworms]

tupedos totally agree.

I work in a mathematical/ semi technical environment and it depresses the fuck out of me that some colleagues think it is funny not to be able to do fairly basic maths.

My grammar isn't great, but I am embarrased enough about that to be working on it.

[VonHerrBurton]

Ok, ok so I spelt definite wrong.

Sorry everyone!

[florascotia]

Amn't I is still quite common usage in parts of Scotland.

This link discusses how we might have arrived at today's possessive apostrophes:

wmjasco.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/possessive-apostrophe-his-origin.html

[garlicnutty]

Earthworms and tupedos - Programming! One misplaced comma or semi-colon and your procedure is fucked. One failure of conditional logic and your programme will throw out wrong results to the end of time. One mathematical misunderstanding and your app debits its users' accounts by 'NaN' pounds.

Yet ... Programmers are among the worst communicators imaginable! Misplaced grammatical bits, meaningless statements and illogic abound on the forums! It makes me come over all "outraged of Sidcup"!

[DarceyBissell]

At the roadworks near here is a big red sign that says 'CATS EYES REMOVED.'
Now, even ignoring the missing ' , don't you think it reads like a special offer, a company that removes cats' eyes?

[PseudoBadger]

I saw a photo of that sign outside a vets :o

[learnasyougo]

A tanning salon on my way home from work (right at a traffic light so I'm forced to stop and look at it) had large letters on their window inviting you to Look like a million dollars.
Look LIKE a million dollars? no thank you. The expression is to 'look a million dollars.

But don't get me started on everyday vs every day. A beauty salon advertises you could be Special Everyday.

So quite ordinary, then.

And I once wrote training materials for a company in which I referred to customers, sometimes customers' expectations and what a recently served customer's experience had been like (for example). During their (final!) review they kindly pointed out to me that with the word customers they had noticed inconsistent apostrophes. Could I please make these consistent?

Well, you can have them correct or you can have them consistent.

[MissStrawberry]

Please can someone tell me about the Eats, Shoots, Leaves book as it sounds like it is a useful book to have but I am wondering if my children are too old/young for it now?

[garlicnutty]

Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss. Never too old for it!

[MissStrawberry]

Thank you garlicnutty. It is on my shopping list.

[PavlovtheCat]

oh yes, it's a fabulous funny book; a must-have on the bookshelf of any wannabe pedant.