[Closed] What's with the weird plurals?

greengrocer's apostrophes eh.
more weird is DVD's when they don't want to make DVDs appear as an acronym I guess.

You see it everywhere. I had a barney with our transport manager over his: "HGV'S this way>>>>" and in the end he had to agree that the plural of HGV should be HGVs. It drives me nuts because I'm fastidious that way.

Ah, yeah, forgot it had a name.

Local council have signs: "This road will be closed for 5 day's from ..."

The awkward ones are where a word has been shortened so "photograph" to "photo'". Both should simply take an simple "s" to make them plural but I suppose "photo" is now really a word in its own right so the plural should be "photos".

I could go on a long rant about people trying to appear clever when they are not. See also, incorrect use of "whom" and so on.

But the underlying cause is that everyone now communicates in a text based format - emails, internet forums, facebook, whatsapp and so on. All completely unchecked. You read it enough, and you start to assume it's (*) right.

Go back 20 years and most people's (**) reading would be limited to books and newspapers and would (hopefully) learn the correct way.

This week I've been on a plane where I read a book, and have been following the newspaper coverage of the Brexit shambles; and still reckon most of my reading has come from the unchecked typing of others.

(*) I know this one
(**) yes, I checked, because I have at my fingertips access to the most comprehensive source of knowledge in all of human history.

Why worry about it, no language is static, when was the last time that you saw a ʃ used? Yet read any literature a little over one hundred years old and it is everywhere.

@mrmo - because it's wrong and there's a simpler and perfectly correct way of writing them.

Catapostrophe

There are some that don't matter (while/whilst) and some that do (there/their/they're) but as long as the meaning's clear I don't mind.

Man shots at cloud about the poor use of grammar whilst starting a sentence 'what's with the...'?
That house you're lobbing rocks from looks a little transparent.

Not everyone is perfect. Deal with it.

globalti

Member
It drives me nuts because I’m fastidious that way.

Me too, but then I was brought up in the days when English was taught in schools.

@submarined

‘What’s with the... ‘ is grammatically correct isn’t it? Or am I missing something?

submarined

Member

Man shoots at cloud about the poor use of grammar whilst starting a sentence ‘what’s with the…’?
That house you’re lobbing rocks from looks a little transparent.

Not everyone is perfect. Deal with it.

Corrected that for you. If you are going to complain about other people's use of language then please make sure that yours is also correct!!!

"What's with ..." is a standard idiomatic expression of American origin.

P.S. I assume you meant "shouts" not "shots"

I wasn't claiming to be perfect, hence why my autocorrect of 'shouts' failed.

'What's with the' is very much a modern Americanisation. Same as 'can I get...'.
To complain about misuse of language whilst using a modern evolution of language. It's more than a little hypocritical.

I used to be a right grammar pedant, then I realised that there are far bigger things to worry about, and not everyone is great at grammar and spelling. Some people are crap at both, but they're probably a lot better than me at something else. 🙂

If you are going to complain about other people’s use of language then please make sure that yours is also correct!!!

You might wish to review your superfluous punctuation before chiding others for grammatical errors.

Man shots at cloud about the poor use of grammar whilst starting a sentence ‘what’s with the…’?

'Whilst' is a horrid archaism. What's wrong with 'while'? Or are you a Victorian 😉

Have we done "an simple" yet?

But yes, apostrophes for plurals do my head in as well. That's not evolution, that's just laziness.

(**) yes, I checked, because I have at my fingertips access to the most comprehensive source of knowledge in all of human history.

Have you Google'd it?

What about using "and" instead of "an" in front of a noun beginning with a vowel? I.e. "I've got and aluminium bike".

What’s with the’ is very much a modern Americanisation.

So who gives a ****?

Or how about when you ask someone a question & they start answering with, 'So....'

IE, Q,'what's your job?'
A, 'so, I'm an English teacher.....'

A very old joke:

A Texan is visiting a friend at Harvard, and they agree to meet at the library. He's a bit lost, so he stops a passing professor. Texan: "Yo, dude, could you tell me where the library's at?" Professor: "Young man, in this institution we don't end our sentences with prepositions." Texan: "All right, could you tell me where the library's at, asshole?"

That house you’re lobbing rocks from looks a little transparent.

The house from which you are lobbing...

‘What’s with the… ‘ is grammatically correct isn’t it? Or am I missing something?

yes any statement like that should now read: the said sentence is grammatically correct isn’t it? very important to add "said" to any statement - makes it factual and learned

Ugh

I have a bit of sympathy with the “5 day’s” example above. If it was “he comes back in 5 days’ time” or something like that it should have an apostrophe, I think (braced for a kicking on this). So, the presence of and apostrophe isn’t outlandish...it’s just in the wrong place, and probably unnecessary in that context.

I'm on root.
I've just brought this.
This is the route cause.

All rage inducing. The last one was my manager, just yesterday, one of her duties is checking my attention to detail. I didn't correct her as it was on a PowerPoint slide in a room with 14 people. 😆

Think that's bad? One of our directors was reading out a presentation on ABC that she had downloaded from the web. When she got to the word "disseminate" she couldn't read it.

I’m on root.
I’ve just brought this.
This is the route cause.

You should have bought that to their attention, important to get to the route of the problem.

The one that gets me is people who use "prolly" instead of probably. Just plain stupid.

The New Yorker reported on Donald Trump serving fast food to guests at the White House, and needed a plural for “filet-o-fish”.

For the record I filed with “Filets-o-Fish” and copy editor extraordinaire
@lleibowitzz
set me straight: McDonald’s corporate dictates that the plural style is “Filet-o-Fishes”

I wasn’t claiming to be perfect, hence why my autocorrect of ‘shouts’ failed.

AAAAAGH. Just hence. Never ever put why.

I totally agree on superfluous apostrophes FWIW. I don't care if language evolves and it can be understood. It's wrong, and it's less effort to get it right! Just never. The 1990s. These BMWs.

The one that gets me is people who use “prolly” instead of probably. Just plain stupid.

That's quite a pacific example.

Pacific I suspect (unless being ironic) is just people being a bit thick and getting the word wrong. Surely "prolly" is a very conscious decision to use a different word?

Surely “prolly” is a very conscious decision to use a different word?

Probly

Pacific I suspect (unless being ironic) is just people being a bit thick and getting the word wrong. Surely “prolly” is a very conscious decision to use a different word?

Defiantly.

The New Yorker reported on Donald Trump serving fast food to guests at the White House, and needed a plural for “filet-o-fish”.

It's all rather bazaar on is preventing me from finding my happy.

Oblig'atory video:

Is that a company selling stationary?

That house you’re lobbing rocks from looks a little transparent.

The house from which you are lobbing…

South Sea Bubble

There's a lot of people on this forum who have break leavers on their bikes.

Please also note that a lot is two words.

Well, obviously they need those breaks for when they peddle too fast.