Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2008 15:27:27 GMT
Should an apostrophe be used in the plural of a TLA? eg, should it be "There are many TLAs in the English language" or "There are many TLA's in the English language"?
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Post by Pete on Jun 13, 2008 15:36:21 GMT
I am in the definitely not school. My view is that an apostrophe adds nothing and actually confuses things, as it can be mistaken for a genitive apostrophe. That is, TLAs clearly says more than one TLA. But TLA's may mean of or belonging to the TLA.
I also feel the same about numbers, as when talking about how life was in the '60s. No apostrophe needed between 0 and s.
As an aside to Paul D, is this a thread that should be on the Language Points board?
This all looks terribly dogmatic, for which I apologise (although I am right, of course). ;D
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Post by Twoddle on Jun 13, 2008 15:53:42 GMT
Dogmatic (one of my favourite Asterix characters) or not, Pete, I think most of us will agree with you. If there's no reason to use an apostrophe for a simple plural (and there is no reason to do so in "TLAs") then don't do so. There are odd occasions when it may be necessary, such as in "dot your i's", but even then the practice should be avoided if there's an alternative - "dot your is", for example.
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Post by Paul Doherty on Jun 13, 2008 15:59:48 GMT
It doesn't seem dogmatic to me, Pete, and my dogma-radar is fine-tuned today. Anyway, I agree: no apostrophe in TLAs.
Yes, it would have been better in "Language Points". Perhaps the name is wrong -- perhaps "Language Questions" would be better.
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Post by Paul Doherty on Jun 13, 2008 16:01:53 GMT
I've changed it.
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Post by Dave M on Jun 13, 2008 16:06:24 GMT
> Language Questions <
On a deeply philosophical Friday-at-five level ... is there ultimately any other kind?
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Post by Paul Doherty on Jun 13, 2008 16:13:06 GMT
Oo, is that the time? Time for a cup of tea and a biscuit, I think.
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Post by Dave on Jun 14, 2008 3:16:29 GMT
If this had been in the strictly-moderated section, most of the posts would've been deleted by now, including your own ;D
By the way, Paul/God, Jesus came into my establishment today and ordered some steel plate.
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Post by Paul Doherty on Jun 14, 2008 18:05:30 GMT
Jesus came into my establishment today and ordered some steel plate. I'm working on a punchline for that ... |
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Post by Tone on Jun 14, 2008 20:34:38 GMT
> Jesus came into my establishment today and ordered some steel plate.<Huh! Hickory wood not good enough for the next ark, then?  That should bugger the Internet with all those underground cable junctions. ;D So who lives on a flood plain? Tone
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Post by Twoddle on Jun 14, 2008 20:48:58 GMT
> Jesus came into my establishment today and ordered some steel plate.<Huh! Hickory wood not good enough for the next ark, then? I'm pretty sure that was Noah, not Jesus, Tone. The Dutch? |
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Post by Paul Doherty on Jun 14, 2008 21:44:33 GMT
By the way, Paul/God, Jesus came into my establishment today and ordered some steel plate. And he's still not back. "Just popping out for a pint of milk and some steel plate", he said. "Might call in on some friends in Sodom and Gomorrah for a quiet drink on the way home ...". |
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Post by Dave on Jun 15, 2008 16:02:21 GMT
This being California, I'm sure you knew it was 'hay-SOOS.'  |
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Post by Barry on Jun 15, 2008 16:37:54 GMT
"Might call in on some friends in Sodom and Gomorrah for a quiet drink on the way home ...". No quiet drinks to be had in Sodom, Paul (you could try down the road in Gomorrah, though - no-one seems to know what their sin was; maybe it was being taciturn ...).  Twod - Obélix's dog (in English) is Dogmatix ('x' not 'c'); my own dog is his French (and original) counterpart - Idéfix (the best translation of any of the Astérix names, I think). I think it's probably why I'm growing more and more to look like Obélix (without the ginger plaits, though). Idéfix got his name because, when I got him, my francophone (now ex-) partner demanded a French name. The first choice was the name of the dog in The Magic Roundabout; as you know, this was originally a French series, and the character we know as Dougal was called Pollux. I put my foot down, however, as I wasn't prepared to wander round London's green spaces shouting his name! So we settled on Idéfix.
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Post by Twoddle on Jun 15, 2008 19:44:53 GMT
... I'm growing more and more to look like Obélix (without the ginger plaits, though). How are you at handling menhirs, Barry? I doubt your French partner would have been to happy at having to bellow "De Gaulle" either, would he? My daughter, when aged thirteen, stayed with a family in Paris for a week on a school exchange-visit. Each morning she and her French exchange-partner would take the family dog for a walk in the local wood, and each morning the untrained cur would run off, leaving the girls roaming the wood for twenty minutes, yelling "Good Morning!" continually and at the tops of their voices, that being the dog's (English) name. |
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