Pedants' Paradise

[smittims]

(Man to woman lighting cigarette in 'No Smoking' coach) : Excuse me , madam, smoking is prohibited here.

W. But I'm one of the directors' wives!


M. Were you the director's only wife, I still object.

(atributed, as are many apocryphal anecdotes, , to Sir Thomas Beecham).

[Pulcinella]

...or on other cardinals' heads...?

That would work (and was my first thought), but the picture actually only shows a singular cardinal receiving the ashes.

(And this thread is now stuck, so needs a reset; I'll alert Andrew/ff.)

[kernelbogey]

...I think they intend
Cardinal Angelo De Donatis puts ashes on another cardinal's head during the Ash Wednesday mass at Basilica of Santa Sabina in Rome, Italy.

...or on other cardinals' heads...?

[Pulcinella]

Grauniad photo caption

Cardinal Angelo De Donatis puts ashes on another cardinals heads during the Ash Wednesday mass at Basilica of Santa Sabina in Rome, Italy.

Even with an apostrophe (another cardinal's) this conjures up a strange image.

I think they intend
Cardinal Angelo De Donatis puts ashes on another cardinal's head during the Ash Wednesday mass at Basilica of Santa Sabina in Rome, Italy.

[Serial_Apologist]

I'll give that a miss. I don't relish listening to recordings of her (or anyone else) eating her dinner and going to the toilet, which is presumably what that would involve.

Poor Roy Plomley would turn in his grave. .

To which one of these two life-sharers do you refer?

[smittims]

I'll give that a miss. I don't relish listening to recordings of her (or anyone else) eating her dinner and going to the toilet, which is presumably what that would involve.

Poor Roy Plomley would turn in his grave. .

[Serial_Apologist]

In Radio Times:

10.00 Desert Island Discs
Singer/songwriter Cyndi Lauper shares the soundtrack of her life with Lauren Laverne.

[french frank]

"Scenes of graphic surgery"
I'm not convinced that cut and paste in a design studio needs a trigger warning. The cut and stitch in the operating theatre on the other hand might warrant it...

[oddoneout]

"Scenes of graphic surgery"
I'm not convinced that cut and paste in a design studio needs a trigger warning. The cut and stitch in the operating theatre on the other hand might warrant it...

[french frank]

So: 'Panzer's and Partridges, the two poshest grocer's' in London'?

We have a local mag called Bishopston Matters, and coincidentally Facebook produces Bishopston Matters's post which looks odd but is perfectly correct - indeed how else could it be written? Bishopston Matters, its post?

[Serial_Apologist]

Yes, either vegetables or fruits!!! ?

Nuts.

[Roger Webb]

... I think the explanation is "A friend [from among the set] of Keir Starmer's [friends]"

Perhaps a group diminishing in size!!.....we may well soon see 'A friend of Keir Starmer' (and he American!)

Reminds me that our village drama group was so small, all we could stage was 'Robin Hood and his Merry Man'!

[vinteuil]

So: 'Panzer's and Partridges, the two poshest grocer's' in London'?

I wd prefer "Panzer's and Partridges, the two poshest grocers' in London"

[oddoneout]

... I think I'm happy with "Panzer’s, the poshest grocer’s in London".

Grocer's [shop understood].

I would say "I'm just going to the grocer's" rather than *"I'm just going to the grocer".
Similarly "going to the chemist's / florist's "&c [shop understood]

Wouldn't you?

.

Yes I would say, and shop would be understood from the apostrophe. However, if I was writing an article for the FT I wouldn't write it and I think that is why it seems wrong. In the local rag or a popular magazine at the supermarket check-out it would be part of the chatty approachable style deemed necessary.

[vinteuil]

I agree with your analysis, but an apostrophe use that is harder to explain is that in 'A friend of Keir Starmer's'......Keir Starmer's what?

... I think the explanation is "A friend [from among the set] of Keir Starmer's [friends]"