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The Apostrophe Rule Abuse Game

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The Apostrophe Rule Abuse Game

Postby Mr Blue Sky » Sat May 10, 2008 11:04 am

Sounds like fun, eh? :wink:

Basically the object of the game is to find 'official' examples of where the humble apostrophe is being neglected, or used incorrectly. By official I mean anything written in print, or up on a sign of a building, or anywhere where the people who wrote it really should know better (signwriters really should know the rule, for example). Obviously a complete no-no is just cutting and pasting posts from forums - they wouldn't be classed as an 'official' source.

I hope all that's clear? If there are enough people playing I'll compile a league table where 1 point will be awarded for every example found.

Ok, I'll start things off with this from the BBC website, no less...

Image

Can someone explain to me why Champions League is never written down with an apostrophe on the end of Champions? It is the league of champions, so therefore should be written as The Champions' League, surely?

Get the idea? My phone camera's gonna come in handy for this - I've seen a ridiculous amount of examples now I'm actually paying attention and looking for them! :lol:
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Postby Paddy » Sat May 10, 2008 3:31 pm

In this jewllery shop, on the refunds statement, it said: "Will happily take back items before 28 days have gone by before your purchase" using 'will' instead of 'we'll'!
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Postby Dorset Girl » Sat May 10, 2008 6:10 pm

Excellent, a game where my anal retentiveness about grammar might actually prove useful! Can I have a rule clarification though? Can they be from the Internet, or do we have to take the photos (photo's :P) ourselves? Because if the Internet counts, there are literally thousands of them!

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Postby Agides » Sat May 10, 2008 8:37 pm

Not an apostrophe misuse, but our local bakers had a sign in the window at Christmas for mice pies. :shock:
I'm guessing they were quite small in size!!
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Postby Mr Blue Sky » Sat May 10, 2008 8:42 pm

Dorset Girl wrote:Excellent, a game where my anal retentiveness about grammar might actually prove useful! Can I have a rule clarification though? Can they be from the Internet, or do we have to take the photos (photo's :P) ourselves? Because if the Internet counts, there are literally thousands of them!

Image


Hehe, that's exactly the thing I'm talking about! But yes, to gain a point you have to provide photographic evidence yourself. As for the internet, cutting and pasting unintentional examples like the one I did is fine, but obviously going to the apostrophe society website (yes, there is one! :lol: ) and nicking all their material is no fun at all.

With this much effort involved DG, I wouldn't be surprised if we were the only two buggers playing this game! :lol: As such, until more join in, we'll just keep the scores like this, read in the voice of James Alexander Gordon...

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Postby Dorset Girl » Sat May 10, 2008 9:00 pm

Mr Blue Sky wrote:Mr BS 1-1 Dorset Girl


Just you and me, one on one, eh?


:shock: I'm sorry, it's my new avatar, it's making me think naughty thoughts. A kind of self-fulfilling prophecy, I suppose.

Mine doesn't count though, because I got it from Flickr. :?
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Postby Mr Blue Sky » Sat May 10, 2008 9:05 pm

Dorset Girl wrote:
Mr Blue Sky wrote:Mr BS 1-1 Dorset Girl


Just you and me, one on one, eh?


:shock: I'm sorry, it's my new avatar, it's making me think naughty thoughts. A kind of self-fulfilling prophecy, I suppose.

Mine doesn't count though, because I got it from Flickr. :?


Oh, you cheat, you! :lol: Just go to the nearest garage, they're bound to have a sign up advertising MOT's! :wink:

It's actually a shock when you pass one and there's not a superfluous apostrophe there! :lol:
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Postby Dorset Girl » Sat May 10, 2008 9:16 pm

Mr Blue Sky wrote:Oh, you cheat, you!


:lol: I wasn't trying to pass it off as my own, honest! I don't have any 'apostrophe' photos (yet). I do have one of a German lorry that had a huge sticker on it saying 'fucking brilliant' (I wonder if the driver knew the meaning of it?).
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Postby Dorset Girl » Sun May 11, 2008 10:57 pm

We've just walked home from the pub (well, limped, in my case :lol:), and hubby was getting really pissed off with me because I was stopping to read every sign to see if there were any superfluous apostrophes!

Anyway, I think I found one - does it count if there should be an apostrophe, but there isn't?
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Postby Mr Blue Sky » Mon May 12, 2008 1:03 am

Dorset Girl wrote:We've just walked home from the pub (well, limped, in my case :lol:), and hubby was getting really pissed off with me because I was stopping to read every sign to see if there were any superfluous apostrophes!

Anyway, I think I found one - does it count if there should be an apostrophe, but there isn't?


Absolutely! Picture, please! :lol:
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Postby Dorset Girl » Mon May 12, 2008 10:02 am

Mr Blue Sky wrote:
Dorset Girl wrote:We've just walked home from the pub (well, limped, in my case :lol:), and hubby was getting really pissed off with me because I was stopping to read every sign to see if there were any superfluous apostrophes!

Anyway, I think I found one - does it count if there should be an apostrophe, but there isn't?


Absolutely! Picture, please! :lol:


I have a picture, but this is where it gets complicated! It's on my phone, which means I have to find my work laptop, log in, set up Bluetooth (for some reason it won't store information on paired devices, so it has to be done fresh each time), Bluetooth it from the phone to the Laptop, save it on to a flash drive, transfer it to the main PC, upload it to Photobucket and then post it here.

So just bear with me if it takes a while, okay? :lol:
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Postby Mr Blue Sky » Mon May 12, 2008 8:21 pm

Dorset Girl wrote:
Mr Blue Sky wrote:
Dorset Girl wrote:We've just walked home from the pub (well, limped, in my case :lol:), and hubby was getting really pissed off with me because I was stopping to read every sign to see if there were any superfluous apostrophes!

Anyway, I think I found one - does it count if there should be an apostrophe, but there isn't?


Absolutely! Picture, please! :lol:


I have a picture, but this is where it gets complicated! It's on my phone, which means I have to find my work laptop, log in, set up Bluetooth (for some reason it won't store information on paired devices, so it has to be done fresh each time), Bluetooth it from the phone to the Laptop, save it on to a flash drive, transfer it to the main PC, upload it to Photobucket and then post it here.

So just bear with me if it takes a while, okay? :lol:


Hahaha! What a pain in the arse game this is, eh? :lol: I'm beginning to see why we're the only two showing any interest! :D

My problem is just remembering exactly where all the ones I've seen are, revisiting those locations and snapping the pics in a way that doesn't make me look like too much of a weirdo...
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Postby Dorset Girl » Mon May 12, 2008 8:24 pm

Mr Blue Sky wrote:Hahaha! What a pain in the arse game this is, eh? :lol: I'm beginning to see why we're the only two showing any interest! :D

My problem is just remembering exactly where all the ones I've seen are, revisiting those locations and snapping the pics in a way that doesn't make me look like too much of a weirdo...


:lol: I think that ship has sailed... for both of us, before you accuse me of being cheeky. :D
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Postby Mr Blue Sky » Mon May 12, 2008 9:05 pm

Dorset Girl wrote:
Mr Blue Sky wrote:Hahaha! What a pain in the arse game this is, eh? :lol: I'm beginning to see why we're the only two showing any interest! :D

My problem is just remembering exactly where all the ones I've seen are, revisiting those locations and snapping the pics in a way that doesn't make me look like too much of a weirdo...


:lol: I think that ship has sailed... for both of us, before you accuse me of being cheeky. :D


Bend over, cheeky girl... :wink:

There's a glaring one at the local shop on the till saying "No alcohol sold to under 18's" but I'm going to have trouble taking a pic of that without security being called. :lol:
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Postby Dorset Girl » Mon May 12, 2008 9:09 pm

Mr Blue Sky wrote:Bend over, cheeky girl... :wink:


I wasn't talking about those cheeks, as well you know... Hey, actually, if no one else could give a flying fuck about apostrophe misuse, that means there's no one to complain if this turns into another sex-filled thread. :twisted:

There's a glaring one at the local shop on the till saying "No alcohol sold to under 18's" but I'm going to have trouble taking a pic of that without security being called. :lol:


Hmm, well the pic I took last night was behind the bar in the pub - I pretended to be sending a text message. :lol:
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Postby Mr Blue Sky » Tue May 13, 2008 12:41 am

Dorset Girl wrote:Hmm, well the pic I took last night was behind the bar in the pub - I pretended to be sending a text message. :lol:


Good idea! I may have to try that...
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Postby Nervosa » Tue May 13, 2008 11:35 am

I saw a banner outside a pub today. Now this is an official banner that they've obviously had specially made. It was about 10 feet long and hung above the main door. It read,

"Weekend's - Pint and meal for £5!"

:roll:
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Postby insaneasperger » Tue May 13, 2008 10:15 pm

Nervosa wrote:I saw a banner outside a pub today. Now this is an official banner that they've obviously had specially made. It was about 10 feet long and hung above the main door. It read,

"Weekend's - Pint and meal for £5!"

:roll:


MUPPETS!

you would think if they were having a sign specially made they could at lest get it right!
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Postby Mr Blue Sky » Wed May 14, 2008 7:39 am

Nervosa wrote:I saw a banner outside a pub today. Now this is an official banner that they've obviously had specially made. It was about 10 feet long and hung above the main door. It read,

"Weekend's - Pint and meal for £5!"

:roll:


Ha! Pity it's not easier to post a pic of all these sightings, maybe I should have thought harder about trying to make a game of this. I'm usually driving when I spot one I'd like to take a picture of, which is a bit of a problem obviously! :lol:
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Postby insaneasperger » Mon May 19, 2008 11:20 pm

not sure if this is the right place to put this, is there a thread for bad english, as in ASDA tongiht there was a sign saying

Potatos (spelt wrong!) :roll:
Was (surely should be were) £1.00
Now 50p

hehehe made me laugh!
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Postby Dorset Girl » Mon May 19, 2008 11:30 pm

insaneasperger wrote:Potatos (spelt wrong!) :roll:
Was (surely should be were) £1.00
Now 50p

hehehe made me laugh!


:lol:
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Postby Mr Blue Sky » Tue May 20, 2008 8:00 am

insaneasperger wrote:not sure if this is the right place to put this, is there a thread for bad english, as in ASDA tongiht there was a sign saying

Potatos (spelt wrong!) :roll:
Was (surely should be were) £1.00
Now 50p

hehehe made me laugh!


Hehe, that potato misspelling will always remind me of former Vice President Dan Quayle's famous faux pas, where he 'corrected' a child at a school he was visiting by adding an extra 'e' to form the word potatoe! :lol:

The Democrats brilliantly used it in their pre-88 election campaign with the slogan:-

"Dan Quayle - Just Say Noe" :D
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Postby Mr Blue Sky » Tue May 20, 2008 8:03 am

insaneasperger wrote:not sure if this is the right place to put this


Hell, this may as well become a Grammar Nazi thread IA, I should have thought through my original 'game' more thoroughly - it was always going to be too much of a ball ache for people to play!
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Postby insaneasperger » Tue May 20, 2008 12:35 pm

Mr Blue Sky wrote:
insaneasperger wrote:not sure if this is the right place to put this


Hell, this may as well become a Grammar Nazi thread IA, I should have thought through my original 'game' more thoroughly - it was always going to be too much of a ball ache for people to play!


ok will look out for bad grammer everywhere I go now!!! :D
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Postby CatNamedRudy » Tue May 20, 2008 1:35 pm

insaneasperger wrote:
Mr Blue Sky wrote:
insaneasperger wrote:not sure if this is the right place to put this


Hell, this may as well become a Grammar Nazi thread IA, I should have thought through my original 'game' more thoroughly - it was always going to be too much of a ball ache for people to play!


ok will look out for bad grammer everywhere I go now!!! :D


Bad Grammer? Would that be Kelsey during his druggie days?

GrammAr. :)
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