7 ms·

Heh, I have two related pet peeves. The first is kinda the opposite of this website's problem: people using apostrophes to denote possession in Dutch. That's s

by Vinnl 3y ago

Heh, I have two related pet peeves. The first is kinda the opposite of this website's problem: people using apostrophes to denote possession in Dutch. That's supposed to be wrong, but people have adopted it from English. (Though supposedly, it was also already fairly widespread before English was. I'm also not so sure whether it can realistically be considered wrong nowadays, given its prevalence.) The other is should've. That's a contraction, and the original is should have, not should of. Funnily enough this is a mistake no Dutch person (or non-native speaker in general, I think) makes, but I see it a lot online. And finally, I wonder how many mistakes I made in this comment

arp242 3y ago
Conversely, a lot of Dutch people use apostrophes for plurals in English, probably more so than the average non-native speaker, because that's considered correct in Dutch. Mixing languages is hard. I've lived abroad for a few years I can no longer tell the time in Dutch. Does "half two" mean "half past two" (14:30) or "half of two" (13:30)? From where I'm sitting now, I'm genuinely not sure; in (British) English it's usually the latter, although that's confusing as well because Americans usually mean the former (or was it the reverse?) Maybe I'm just stupid – I've never been able to recite the alphabet either (always get confused somewhere after O/P).
- Vinnl 3y ago
  For plurals in Dutch it's only correct if the pronunciation of the letter before the s would change, I believe, whereas English just changes the spelling. So in Dutch it's baby's, in English babies, but both say computers. But yeah, I think it's just compensation because people have memorised that English uses more apostrophes than Dutch. I can tell the time in Dutch, but having to switch between British and American English makes that I indeed have no idea which interpretation of half two is correct when. I just make sure to say half past two.

by Vinnl 3y ago

arp242 3y ago

Conversely, a lot of Dutch people use apostrophes for plurals in English, probably more so than the average non-native speaker, because that's considered correct in Dutch. Mixing languages is hard. I've lived abroad for a few years I can no longer tell the time in Dutch. Does "half two" mean "half past two" (14:30) or "half of two" (13:30)? From where I'm sitting now, I'm genuinely not sure; in (British) English it's usually the latter, although that's confusing as well because Americans usually mean the former (or was it the reverse?) Maybe I'm just stupid – I've never been able to recite the alphabet either (always get confused somewhere after O/P).

Vinnl 3y ago
For plurals in Dutch it's only correct if the pronunciation of the letter before the s would change, I believe, whereas English just changes the spelling. So in Dutch it's baby's, in English babies, but both say computers. But yeah, I think it's just compensation because people have memorised that English uses more apostrophes than Dutch. I can tell the time in Dutch, but having to switch between British and American English makes that I indeed have no idea which interpretation of half two is correct when. I just make sure to say half past two.