Pedants' Paradise

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  • vinteuil
    Full Member
    • Nov 2010
    • 12765

    Originally posted by jean View Post
    ... yes - and look at the centuries of problems that caused! .

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    • Segilla
      Full Member
      • Nov 2010
      • 136

      Around 1970, when working for an insurance company a man submitted a 4 page motor claim form with every word ending in the letter s, preceded by an apostrophe - including his own surname.

      I was in the RAF in 1952, and was given injections against yellow fever etc before going abroad. Later, when asked at which hospital they had been done I replied, "St. Pancras". The form then given to me showed St. Pancreas.

      Comment

      • Segilla
        Full Member
        • Nov 2010
        • 136

        Let's all go down the Strand

        In London the street is Strand, the Bakerloo station is Strand and so on. But it is commonly known as the Strand. Stanley Gibbons, one of the best known shops there, on their website show:-

        'Based opposite the Savoy on the Strand' ... .

        and later:-

        'With the move of our prestigious 142 year old numismatic business, AH Baldwin & Sons, to 399 Strand ....'

        However, it's difficult to make do without the definite article.

        Comment

        • Don Petter

          Originally posted by Segilla View Post
          Around 1970, when working for an insurance company a man submitted a 4 page motor claim form with every word ending in the letter s, preceded by an apostrophe - including his own surname.
          If the claim was to his own company perhaps it was just over-possessivenes.

          Comment

          • Serial_Apologist
            Full Member
            • Dec 2010
            • 37559

            Originally posted by Segilla View Post
            Around 1970, when working for an insurance company a man submitted a 4 page motor claim form with every word ending in the letter s, preceded by an apostrophe - including his own surname.

            I was in the RAF in 1952, and was given injections against yellow fever etc before going abroad. Later, when asked at which hospital they had been done I replied, "St. Pancras". The form then given to me showed St. Pancreas.
            I once erroneously wrote "St Pancreas" into a book. One of the reviewers wrote, "St Pancras was not the patron saint of glands"!

            Comment

            • Eine Alpensinfonie
              Host
              • Nov 2010
              • 20569

              Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View Post
              I once erroneously wrote "St Pancreas" into a book. One of the reviewers wrote, "St Pancras was not the patron saint of glands"!

              Comment

              • ferneyhoughgeliebte
                Gone fishin'
                • Sep 2011
                • 30163

                You mean, it isn't "St Pancreas"??!!
                [FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]

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                • Beef Oven!
                  Ex-member
                  • Sep 2013
                  • 18147

                  This is bothering me. Thinking of painting. Should the plural of 'still life', be still lifes or still lives?

                  Comment

                  • ferneyhoughgeliebte
                    Gone fishin'
                    • Sep 2011
                    • 30163

                    "Still lifes" (as each painting is of one still life).
                    [FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]

                    Comment

                    • ferneyhoughgeliebte
                      Gone fishin'
                      • Sep 2011
                      • 30163

                      He said confidently - apparently either option is nowadays acceptable:

                      a picture consisting predominantly of inanimate objects; the category of graphic arts concerned with inanimate subject matter… See the full definition


                      ... education standards have gone right down the drain since my day!
                      [FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]

                      Comment

                      • Beef Oven!
                        Ex-member
                        • Sep 2013
                        • 18147

                        Originally posted by ferneyhoughgeliebte View Post
                        "Still lifes" (as each painting is of one still life).
                        That was my thinking, but today I saw it written as 'still lives'. It didn't seem right. But my spell check won't let me have 'lifes'. I have to override it. It's so stressful, all this.

                        Comment

                        • StephenO

                          Originally posted by Segilla View Post
                          In London the street is Strand, the Bakerloo station is Strand and so on. But it is commonly known as the Strand. Stanley Gibbons, one of the best known shops there, on their website show:-

                          'Based opposite the Savoy on the Strand' ... .

                          and later:-

                          'With the move of our prestigious 142 year old numismatic business, AH Baldwin & Sons, to 399 Strand ....'

                          However, it's difficult to make do without the definite article.
                          If it's good enough for AH Baldwin & Sons, it's good enough for me.

                          Comment

                          • Eine Alpensinfonie
                            Host
                            • Nov 2010
                            • 20569

                            Originally posted by Segilla View Post
                            In London ... the Bakerloo station is Strand and so on.
                            That's going back a bit! Actually I recall that the Bakerloo station was Trafalgar Square.

                            Comment

                            • Bryn
                              Banned
                              • Mar 2007
                              • 24688

                              Originally posted by Eine Alpensinfonie View Post
                              That's going back a bit! Actually I recall that the Bakerloo station was Trafalgar Square.

                              Comment

                              • vinteuil
                                Full Member
                                • Nov 2010
                                • 12765

                                Originally posted by Eine Alpensinfonie View Post
                                That's going back a bit! Actually I recall that the Bakerloo station was Trafalgar Square.
                                ... indeed it was : happy memories

                                The history of the names for the various underground stations making up the present-day Charing Cross is a bit of a tangle - wiki sets it out quite helpfully -

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