Way, Way OT-- The Apostrolypse

It's the Apostrolypse!

Whenever I see an aspotrophe misused, which is ALL THE TIME, EVERYWHERE, I cringe, knowing that people will assume the incorrect usage is actually correct, since nearly everyone uses it incorrectly! I suppose it's the domino theory, applied to punctuation.

For anyone who is interested, here's a simple way to remember correct apostrophe usage:

"It's" always means "it is" or "it has." The apostrophe stands in for the omitted letters. This is a called a "contraction."

"Its" signifies possession or attribution. "It's raining, and the dog ran inside with its tail between its legs. "That pumpkin weighs too much for its own good."

His, hers, theirs, its--no apostrophe. Otherwise, it would be hi's, her's, and their's.

Another frequent mistake is using "'s" to form plurals, as in "apple's." "Apple's" means "apple is." Apples is correct.

I hope no one is offended by this post.

Its okay, I dont take it personally.

Hehe... Misused apostrophes drive me nuts, too... I just have never said anything about it unless someone has said, "I don't know if I spelled that right." I figure I can pipe up without getting into trouble at that point.

You might enjoy this. (Its hilarious )
http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html

A bit of the grammar is good for you... probably... I think we all have our pet peeves... like too many ellipses...

Mine is when people use loose instead of lose.

Loose is an adjective, the opposite of tight or contained. (loose clothing)
Lose is a verb that means to suffer the loss of, to miss. (gone for good)

In square foot gardening, we lose the soil and get to put our hands into the loose Mel's Mix.

I'm sure everyone has their own boogey word ( Sorry about the pun, I couldn't help myself! What the heck is this dancing critter?)

Mark

Mind if I put Alot to good use? It's (or he's or she's) hilarious!

I have a theory that the country is in a mess largely because people are afraid to speak up, judge, or correct others. Not that it should be done each and every time. However, some things simply are not acceptable, such as politicians taking bribes, child abuse, irresponsible parenthood, and on and on. If an error is not addressed, eventually it will become the norm.

Your my favorite people to.

I am probably as guilty as anyone. I think I usually do fine with grammar, but what you don't use, you definitely lose. (What you dont use, you definitely loose...lol)

Here is a great read and refresher for anyone interested..

http://grammar.about.com/od/punctuationandmechanics/tp/GuideApostrophe.htm

I know I read it....and got something from it.

In this day of internet, email, and texting, a lot gets lost grammatically. My daughter doesn't even have grammar emphasized yet in school, and she's in 4th grade...receiving a private education! To me, that's shameful. Spelling and punctuation are the foundation of communication. I don't usually care when it's a casual email or a post in a forum, but God forbid we start becoming lackidasical with resumes and applications.

donnainzone10 wrote:Mind if I put Alot to good use?

Ha! that is the one that does it for me. I thought it was one word for a long time. I even wondered if spell check was wrong.

I constantly mix up then and than; the pastors (one preaches and one goes "moo") and the prophets (one is the money I make and one tells me to give it all away). Suddenly it occurs to me that I only learned to spell one form but the other is what I use. Like weather and whether.

I have there and their down but still will see when I have used the wrong one when going back to re-read something I wrote. I know when to use too and to but if I brag about it I know that I am going to find something I wrote that uses the incorrect form. Keeps me humble I guess.

Debs…..who sometimes just keyboards faster than the old mind works.

Frankly, I don't mind if folks make spelling and grammar errors when they post - just as long as they keep posting all that great information.

Spelling errors really used to bother me when I was younger - then I noticed that, as I got older, I had trouble remembering the proper way to spell some words. They just wouldn't "look right" to me as I typed them. I've loosened up about that and try not to judge others lest they judge me right back! I just try not to sweat the small stuff - life's too short!

I do fear for our younger generation, though, who use all the latest Internet slang and abbreviations for whole phrases and who text on their phones when they're driving down the highway. If they manage to stay alive with all that dangerous texting - how are they going to know how to do resumes and business reports, etc.?
I didn't use my spell check or grammar check once while typing this, so hope I don't get on anybody's last nerve!!

Duh....huh?

Ooh, this post opened up a can of worms for me. (How was that for bringing it back on topic a little?)

It makes me insane that because enough people misused the word "irregardless", they went ahead and put it in the dictionary! Grrr! It's not a word - the "ir" and the "less" cancel each other out!

So my new word is "disirregardless."

And my sister-in-law, who was a 2nd grade teacher, was told not to correct her students when they used improper grammar - they were just speaking their dialect. Hey, I'm all about speaking your dialect at home or out with your friends, but in school, that's where we should be LEARNING THINGS!

Rant over.

Oh wait. Definitely doesn't have an "a" in it.

K - now I'm done.

Oh, and ditto to what Donnainzone10 said.

I love the Alot!!!

jazzymaddy wrote:It makes me insane that because enough people misused the word "irregardless", they went ahead and put it in the dictionary! Grrr! It's not a word - the "ir" and the "less" cancel each other out!

So my new word is "disirregardless."

I hear "irregardless" so often (even from my brother), and it gets me, too! "Disirregardless"...

I grew up in a family that just did not allow incorrect grammar or pronunciation. My mom, dad, grandmother, grandfather, uncle... I was corrected by all, and rarely did I escape detection when I misspoke. Now I am horrified at how much my good grammar has soured, but I'm trying to improve it again. ...Especially now that I homeschool, and am correcting my children's grammar.

jazzymaddy wrote:And my sister-in-law, who was a 2nd grade teacher, was told not to correct her students when they used improper grammar - they were just speaking their dialect.

Their dialect? So now the school is willing to intentionally impair their students for life, in a PC attempt at not hurting anyone's feelings. They must be joking. Or, at least, I wish they were.

donnainzone10 wrote:

However, some things simply are not acceptable, such as politicians taking bribes, child abuse, irresponsible parenthood, and on and on. If an error is not addressed, eventually it will become the norm.

I was wondering if you were including the incorrect use of aspotrophes in this group? Donnainzone10 are you an english teacher? Does my bad spelling drive you wild? Not offended just asking.

Ha!

I often screw things up including the it's vs. its thing, but it's not because I don't know any better (DN ) it's because I'm a terrible typist and an even worse proofreader. Take that and add in a learning disability and... you'll just have to bear with me (that's another one that trips me up bear vs. bare).

Now HERE is the question: what the heck do we do with SFGing, SFGers, etc? (SFG'ing? SFG-ing? SFG ing?...) :scratch:

Don't ask me, I am the child who argued with their teacher about the word ain't back in the 70's, I informed him it was a word, Webster said so, and yes, I showed him.

FarmerValerie wrote:Don't ask me, I am the child who argued with their teacher about the word ain't back in the 70's, I informed him it was a word, Webster said so, and yes, I showed him.

It's pretty hard to argue that something is not correct, when it's in Webster's Dictionary. I didn't realize it was in there that far back.

I was in the 6th grade, so it was probably 1977. If only I had been a smart child instead of a smart you know what.

My favorite is the "double negative." However, when studying those, I was watching Family Ties one night and the theme song was playing.

I about hit the ceiling when I heard the TRIPLE NEGATIVE!!

"There ain't no nothing we can't get each other through..."

That one cracks me up to this day.

They say a southern child (or the child of a mother from the south) can tell exactly how upset she is by the amount of negatives and the length of the child's name being called in the massive one sentence calling she hollers.

BackyardBirdGardner wrote:My favorite is the "double negative."

Here's my favorite of late:

Mel didn't say I shouldn't use two composts, so it's OK if I do.

FarmerValerie wrote:They say a southern child (or the child of a mother from the south) can tell exactly how upset she is by the amount of negatives and the length of the child's name being called in the massive one sentence calling she hollers.

Truer words have never been spoken!

Not an apostrophe issue, but one that's been driving me nuts lately because I seem to be seeing it all the time is "It's 8:00 a.m. in the morning." Really? Does 8:00 a.m. ever come at any other part of the day?

Or this past winter, my husband would say "It's negative ten degrees below zero outside." Yep, -10 is pretty much always below zero. Hello Department of Redundancy Department!

The loose/lose, you're/your, it's/its and advice/advise mixups really get me, too.

Khrishna wrote:Or this past winter, my husband would say "It's negative ten degrees below zero outside." Yep, -10 is pretty much always below zero. Hello Department of Redundancy Department!

If it's negative 10 degrees below zero, is it like math, in which negating a negative creates a positive, so it's actually 10* above zero?

We were not allowed to speak poorly either. My parents, who never had formal schooling past Gr. 2 and Gr. 8 until they were adults, made an effort to learn to speak and write properly. English was not my mother's first language. They had a tough time but it was important to them that we not look and sound uneducated. I remember my mom, working on our spelling lists with us, so she would be able to spell properly.

Bad spelling, bad pronunciation and bad grammar ALL make me crazy. I hear it and see it all the time. When my kids were in school they didn't get their grammar or spelling corrected either. It was called 'creative spelling". We were told by their teachers that grammar and sentence structure were no longer being taught in school because the kids would gradually learn proper usage of words as they got older and heard their language used properly. WHAT?!?! So now, bad grammar has become so acceptable that the young people I work with laugh at
my grammar and pronunciation and have atrocious spelling. The only verb, adverb and adjective they know begins with "f" and they have no clue what a pronoun or a contraction is.

The amount of spelling mistakes and grammar mistakes there are in publications really irritates me. Pick up any newspaper, magazine or publication from your company head office and you can usually find one on the first page. Incomplete sentences are so commonplace now that my daughter, who publishes articles on Marketing, was told that she needs to write in the 'vernacular' and use MORE of them so her writing will appeal to more people. The appalling pronunciation and grammar I hear from our government leaders in their campaign speeches coming up to our Federal election doesn't give me much hope that it will get any better. Seems to me it is a "dumbing down" of our society.

That is my rant this morning. I think I better get more coffee and check this for spelling and grammar errors before I hit the "send" button.

Gwynn