5 ms·
> The Deppenapostroph is not to be confused with the English greengrocer’s apostrophe, when an apostrophe before an ‘s’ is mistakenly used to form the plural of
by theandrewbailey 2y ago
> The Deppenapostroph is not to be confused with the English greengrocer’s apostrophe, when an apostrophe before an ‘s’ is mistakenly used to form the plural of a noun (“a kilo of potato’s”).
Grocer's apostrophes annoy me, along with words like "advices" (advice is an abstract noun and can't be plural, like "happiness") and "learnings" (use "lessons" instead).
- causi 2y agoIt's bizarre. I hate seeing it as well but if I don't pay attention I find myself typing them for no discernable reason.
- raverbashing 2y agoThere is no more misguided use of an apostrophe than to use it to "create a pronoun's possessive" as using "it's" in place of "its" Do you also write "he's" and "she's" (as possessive pronouns)? No? Then it's "its".
- robertlagrant 2y agoEr, yes because they're short for he is and she is. You mean "his" and "hers".
- raverbashing 2y agoBut you don't write them like that, you write "his/hers"
- oneeyedpigeon 2y agoDifferent words. "His dog" means the dog belonging to him. "He's a dog" means "he is a dog".
- raverbashing 2y ago> Different words Obviously I meant people don't write "he's" as the possessive form of he. Hence they shouldn't write it's as the possessive form of it.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- mouse_ 2y agohe's/she's going to have to deal with it
- nozzlegear 2y agoOr even "it's going to have to deal with it" — though hopefully the pronoun refers to a pet or farm animal of some kind, as referring to a human as "it" is dehumanizing.
- ben_w 2y ago"He's got a head shaped like a massive orange" "Who?" "Xtk'act'sbu" "Oh no, not the Klingon cosplayer!"
- itronitron 2y agoSo is this the proper form? -> it's putting the lotion on its skin
- vundercind 2y agoCorporate English is a blight. So many ugly substitutions, overloading existing words, for perfectly good and common words we already have.
- mwigdahl 2y agoIt is my belief that you may not fully leverage the synergistic potential of the value-added verbosity inherent in corporate linguistics.
- daveslash 2y agoAgreed. It's very important to maximize cross-functional coherence to capitalize on strategic imperatives for maximal growth opportunities.
- sokoloff 2y agoUnless there’s a fulcrum involved, I don’t want to read the word “leverage”.
- wizzwizz4 2y agoThe fulcrum is externalities. Good ask, though!
- lxgr 2y agoLet's double-click on that: There's value in expensive signalling, and sometimes the expense is an intentional (or at least tolerated) lack of aesthetics.
- vundercind 2y agoWe should take this offline so we can really zoom in.
- Muromec 2y agoCorporate life is just really boring and this kind of nonsense is understood as fun by people engaging in it.
- okeuro49 2y ago"informations" is a good one for non-native English language speakers to look out for.
- pjot 2y agoAs is “codes” - I hear this often from non-native colleagues
- Spivak 2y agoThis one is honestly confusing. * Error codes — correct. * Their personal codes — correct. * Multiple codes of conduct — correct. And then computer code is used roughly like the noun 'writing' except you can say writings where appropriate.
- pjot 2y agoThe difference lies in how we conceptualize the noun: - Computer code is seen as a continuous substance or body of work, like "writing" or "music." - Other types of codes are seen as discrete units or systems. It's similar to how we say "information" (uncountable) but "facts" (countable), even though they're related concepts.
- jameshart 2y agoYes, code is a substance, like sand or iron. The system is built out of code (not codes), just like the table is built out of wood (not woods). Hearing someone talk about ‘codes’ has the same weird vibe as when they talk about ‘Legos’.
- Ekaros 2y agoSource codes of dependencies. Might be acceptable... Also why not pluralise all words? Sources codes.
- ben_w 2y agoWith regard to source code(s), I hear it exclusively from scientists, regardless of nationality. None of the coders I've worked with (and I'm in Berlin) have put the s on the end of code. Quite a few will use "he" to describe inanimate objects, though: "I spilled coffee on the table and now he is wet", that kind of thing. (This is still better than my German, which is embarassing given how long I've been here)
- zztop44 2y ago“Learnings” has a potentially useful nuance, referring specifically to whatever it is one took away from a lesson. I know the word “lesson” itself can also cover that meaning, but “learning” is more specific and given how widely it’s used, that specificity appears to be useful in some circumstances.
- ivan_gammel 2y agoThose plural forms are sometimes referred to as European continental dialect of English and do not raise questions here. If we, Europeans have to use English as lingua franca, we can and we will adapt it to our needs same way as Americans, Afro-Americans or Indians did. So my advice: just get used to it. Edit: cultural possession of language is nonsense, it belongs to all speakers, native and non-native alike. Germans must get used to foreign influence on their language too and Ukrainians should stop fighting Russian language and start writing their own rules for it (what can piss Moscow more?)
- Semaphor 2y agoI had never heard of that, but Wikipedia has similar examples in "Euro English" [0], though there it is because similar words exist with s in other languages. I wonder if something like "advices" exists in another language? [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro_English#Inflection https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro_English#Inflection
- hydrolox 2y agoI think you can say it does? Ie in other languages, the plural of advice (which in English is advice, "I gave him a lot of advice") is spelled differently(with the plural ending). From my personal knowledge, in Russian advice is совет and "advices" (or advice pl.) is советы. In Spanish, advice is consejo and there is a plural consejos. This can probably be also translated (in both cases) as "tip" and"tips" or something similar.
- Semaphor 2y agoYeah, but at least the examples wikipedia has, are for similar words, not just applying random other grammatical rules: informations (French) -> informations (English) compétences -> competences
- t0mas88 2y agoThe Dutch may have some "rights" to adapt English. They're #1 in non-native English proficiency for 5 years in a row and surpassed Canada (considered native speakers) on overall English proficiency some years ago. One point of debate is that English in the Netherlands has become mostly American English over the last decades due to media influence. While originally "school English" in the Netherlands was British English.
- njtransit 2y agoLearning can be the gerund form of the verb “to learn” and isn’t necessarily a noun referring to the abstract concept.
- praptak 2y ago"Learnings" is more than annoying corpspeak though. It's a word so old that you can find usage from time it was spelled "lernynges" ("lernynges whiche Cathon gaf to his sone") https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/118379/first-use-of-learnings https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/118379/first-use...
- drewcoo 2y agoI would normally expect "the grocer's apostrophe" to refer to a single grocer and "the grocers' apostrophe" to refer to a plural group of grocers, which I assume is what you intended.
- oneeyedpigeon 2y agoThe term "(green)grocer's apostrophe" refers to the misuse of the apostrophe in plurals, which seemingly occurs disproportionately on signs in those shops. It's ironic that it contains a tricky-to-place apostrophe. Should the meaning be "the apostrophe of the greengrocer" or should it be "the apostrophe that greengrocers misuse"? Either works fine. For the same reason, I always have to check whether it's "mother's day" or "mothers' day" because... it's both!
- oneeyedpigeon 2y agoSimilar—and even more on-topic—I see a lot of non-first-language writers using "codes" in a similar way, to describe source code snippets.
- bee_rider 2y agoI’ve never heard “advices” (in the US). Maybe it is a continental Europe thing? They may have surpassed even us, at the art of inventing new words and spellings to annoy the English.
- cpwright 2y agoI've heard my wife say it that way because it is a plural in her native language.