On the other hand MX's is correct, but I was corrected, incorrectly, so many
times I started using MXen. Did you ever think maybe they were selling Apple's
apples (GRIN)?
Actually punctuation is becoming a lost art. It is being replaced by machine
gun sentences. Like these. Almost gone are those wonderful 300 word sentences
of the 19th century.
graywolf
http://www.graywolfphoto.com
"Idiot Proof" <==> "Expert Proof"
-----------------------------------
John Forbes wrote:
The incorrect use of the apostrophe in English is becoming ever more
prevalent. Greengrocers (fruit and veg. mongers) used to be the worst
culprits (eg: "apple's" instead of "apples"), so this abomination
became known as the grocer's apostrophe.
Now, like a virus, it has spread everywhere. The worst example, from
Ebay (I refuse to write "eBay"), is "lense's"!
Actually, I made that up. But it's only a question of time.
John
On Sun, 29 May 2005 22:34:47 +0100, Jostein <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
John,
your description of changes in the English language sounds hideously
familiar. It echoes the developent we see in Norwegian as well. One
certainly doesn't have to be an old fart to disapprove.
Interestingly, one of the threats to our language is in fact the
influence of English. Hard to come up with a good example, but one
little silly thing is the use of apostrophs, like in "Foster's". In
our language we don't use apostrophs that way ever, exept after words
ending with "s", like "Forbes' ".
<sidewinder>And of course we don't capitalise the names of languages.
Especially not Canadian.</sidewinder>
Cheers,
Jostein
----- Original Message ----- From: "John Forbes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
<old fart mode on> I have always considered it thus:
[...]
What saddens me, and many other old farts too, I expect, is that
many of these linguistic changes are not, as supporters claim, a
sign of richness or diversity, but of simple ignorance, stemming
partly from poor education and partly from incorrect usage by
non-native speakers. "Lense" is a case in point. "Specie" for
"species" is another, and "criteria" for "criterion" is a third.
The worst is "media" for "medium", as in "a media". The proponents
of richness and diversity claim this is just organic change; I say
it is degeneration.
</old fart mode off>
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