Sad, sad times...

[jbsegal]

It's gotten so bad that I can't tell the use of a proper posessive apostrophe from an incorrect pluralization.

I guess this means that http://www.angryflower.com/destro.gif is now the way I should be living my life.

Oy.

Comments

[trowa-barton.livejournal.com]

One of those days?
I may be getting that.

[lija-baley.livejournal.com]

I prefer to take the educational approach http://www.angryflower.com/aposter3.jpg rather than the scorched earth method. But hey, it's all personal tastes in the end. :-)

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

Oh, I agree, in principal.

I'm more bemoaning my current reality.

(I just couldn't make my brain believe that "Smoking ban's impact on local establishments" was correct.)

[coraline]

that's because it's a sentence fragment that tends to garden-path you.
(since we're used to "smoking bans" plural as a unit, and have difficulty seeing "ban's" as the possessive of "ban."
or at least that's what it was for me...)

[lija-baley.livejournal.com]

It sounds like a headline from some news outlet. Please, please tell me that it wasn't for public consumption...

[dancingdeer.livejournal.com]

It was. It makes more sense if you add a "The" at the beginning. It's an article looking back on how the smoking ban (yay!) has affected things since it was implemented.

[skreeky]

Tough because "impact" can be a noun or a verb.

Sentence: Smoking bans impact local establishments.
Noun phrase only: Smoking ban's impact on local establishments

They're similar enough to potentially hit the eye wrong. Reboot the brain. It's okay.

[bouncingleaf.livejournal.com]

Dear Mister Language Person: What is the purpose of the apostrophe?

Answer: The apostrophe is used mainly in hand-lettered small business signs to alert the reader that an "S" is coming up at the end of a word, as in: WE DO NOT EXCEPT PERSONAL CHECK'S, or: NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ITEM'S. Another important grammar concept to bear in mind when creating hand-lettered small business signs is that you should put quotation marks around random words for decoration, as in "TRY" OUR HOT DOG'S, or even TRY "OUR" HOT DOG'S.

-- Dave Barry, "Tips for Writer's"

[feydn2.livejournal.com]

That last is one i find particularly annoying. *grin*

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

Thats' terrible. I mean, its' awful. I mean...

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Hey, I was going to cite that... :-)