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Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2006 9:43 pm
by skinem
Well, in my neck of the woods it would appear that the candidates are slap-happy--or maybe punch-drunk...
they're not playing well together.

Posted: Sun Nov 05, 2006 8:02 pm
by Stargzer
Well, in my neck of the woods it would appear that the candidates are slap-happy--or maybe punch-drunk...
they're not playing well together.
Well, by the time I finish watching and listening to all the political ads, I don't think I'll want to vote for ANYONE! Do you think we could save some payroll expense by not electing anyone and just letting the bureacrats run things they way they always do, based on the laws and regulations currently on the books?

Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 12:12 pm
by gailr
I always wish for a "None of the Above" option for each political race. It would be interesting to wake up and find how many public offices were vacant after a paticularly contentious election season.

-gailr

Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 12:21 pm
by Perry
Well, in my neck of the woods it would appear that the candidates are slap-happy--or maybe punch-drunk...
they're not playing well together.
It's just as bad here in Western North Carolina. Both congressional candidates have been accused (by each other) of shady business practices, tax evasion, and you name it. And to make it worse, they are leaving messages on my home phone and business phone, so there is no escape. Wednesday can't come quickly enough for me!

Posted: Fri Jan 29, 2010 9:50 pm
by saparris
I took the slang test and was pegged as being a child of the 50's. I actually was a teenager in the 60's but grew up in the South, where everything happens about 10 years late.

Some people here still fly the wrong flag, so perhaps 10 years is an underestimation.

Posted: Fri Jan 29, 2010 10:42 pm
by Slava
I took the slang test and was pegged as being a child of the 50's. I actually was a teenager in the 60's but grew up in the South, where everything happens about 10 years late.
Just to pick a nit here, but if you were a teenager in the 60s, doesn't that mean you were a child in the 50s.

Which leads us to yet another quibbling point: 50's or 50s. That apostrophe should mean it's possessive, no?

Posted: Fri Jan 29, 2010 11:01 pm
by saparris
Just to pick a nit here, but if you were a teenager in the 60s, doesn't that mean you were a child in the 50s.

Which leads us to yet another quibbling point: 50's or 50s. That apostrophe should mean it's possessive, no?
Well, I was born in 1948, but I was in high school and college in the 60's (or 60s). The slang test asks what terms you used in high school or college, which is why I called myself a child of the 60's.

As for the apostrophe, I was taught that letters and numbers employed that punctuation mark to signify pluralization (e.g., "Your 3's look like 8's"). I've seen in both ways and am not bothered by either usage.

Since I am new to this forum, I would like to know how to upload an avatar, preferably the size of those of other members' avatars. I linked to one that I liked, but it came our extremely large. Is there a way to re-size it? Or is there a way to get the image, which I have saved, onto the forum?

Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 11:36 am
by sluggo
I agree with Slava here-- IMHO we never use an apostrophe to make a plural under any circumstance. It's still the most distracting thing about reading the New York Times where they still employ the "1960's" format. To me that reads "Nineteen-sixty is".

And I really wonder if the lax application of this rule is what begat all the misuse of apostrophes: "hundred's of items"... "at it's finest" etc. You get the idea that nobody knows what they're for any more :cry:

Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 12:19 pm
by saparris
As I indicated in my earlier post, I'm not bothered by the presence or the absence of apostrophes to form plurals of a letters or numbers.

The Chicago Manual of Style (at least the edition I have) requires the apostrophe. My old Harbrace Handbook allows a choice of putting it in or leaving it out.

The consistent use of one style or another is fine, unless you're editing and having to follow imposed guidelines.

Of course, Emerson said that a foolish consistency is the "hobgoblin of little minds," and that's more important than a jot or tittle here and there.

Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 1:23 pm
by sluggo
The Chicago Manual of Style (at least the edition I have) requires the apostrophe. My old Harbrace Handbook allows a choice of putting it in or leaving it out.
If memory serves, in my experience it was Strunk and White that took that stance; I thought CMS abhorred it but I no longer have a copy (since of course I now know everything) :roll:

In any case we also hashed over this hobgoblin a bit in the topic Strunk and White Must Die :twisted:

Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 2:00 pm
by saparris
I never saw the fascination with Strunk and White, although I somehow have managed to acquire two copies. I'm not sure why it's held in such reverence.

The reason I use the apostrophe with letters and numbers is that I don't want to worry over constructions like "I's" and "m's" (although I realize that I'm approaching consistency for its own sake rather than for other, more relevant reasons.

I'm happy to meet someone who knows everything, though, regardless of the difference of opinion.

Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 2:17 pm
by sluggo
- and I hope that was properly conveyed as self-mocking irony :)

I agree that pluralizing a single letter is the bugaboo on this question. I just try to avoid having to do that altogether and when I can't I'll go with Ms or even "M"s. (M&Ms?)

Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 4:12 pm
by saparris
...I hope that was properly conveyed as self-mocking irony.
I took it that way, as I am sure you meant it.

There are few instances among the rules of punctuation that allow choices between two rights. The apostrophe after a letter or number is one, and the last comma in a series is another.

So take advantage of all the freedoms you can. There are not that many.

By the way, M&M uses the apostrophe on its site to pluralize more that one piece of candy (M&M's), but there is no punctuation in the web address (mms.com).

(Doesn't stop me from eating its candy. Chocolate trumps apostrophes every time.)

Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 5:07 pm
by sluggo
the last comma in a series is another.
Oh no! :shock:

Actually I don't think apostrophes are allowed in URLs at all, so we'll never know...

Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 9:27 pm
by saparris
Guess we'll just have to rely on the old-fashioned package, which came long before URLs (now wasn't that nice of me to leave out the apostrophe).