Pedants' Paradise

[jean]

Bells, surely?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Bells, surely?

Depends: those signalling the beginning of the first lesson of the day might be less "preferred" to that concluding the last!

The whisky - which must always have a captial "B" - does have an apostrophe.

http://www.bells.co.uk/

[french frank]

They're all correct in context,

Exactly the point. In context they are semantically different. That is allowable.

WH Smith was founded by Henry Walton Smith, but when he ceased to be head of the firm it was rebranded WH Smith after his son. And if they wish to trade as WHSmith, they are allowed to. Tim Waterstone could have called his company Waterstone, Tim Waterstone or - as he chose - Waterstone's. But there is no rule about what companies use as their trading name. If the Waterstone/Dillon/Ottakar/Smith conglomerate wished to change their/its name to Waterstones, that is their/its prerogative - just as William Henry Smith chose to change his company's name. You may disagree with/dislike the decision to change the name to Waterstones but you cannot make the loss of the apostrophe an 'error' because in context the apostrophe no longer has a 'meaning' vis-à-vis the new company.

but the ellipsis should have spaces between the dots . . .

I disagree - and so does Apple. The ellipsis is a single punctuation mark achieved by pressing the alt key and the colon/semicolon, not three separate dots.

PS Wikipedia refers to it, as I typed it, as a 'precomposed triple-dot glyph'.

[ahinton]

Depends: those signalling the beginning of the first lesson of the day might be less "preferred" to that concluding the last!

The whisky - which must always have a captial "B" - does have an apostrophe.

http://www.bells.co.uk/

Oh, mon Dieu! For whom the bell tolls - or the bells toll - or whether the Bells are Poeish, Rachmaninovian or - afore ye go - Diageonian - and why Bs with or without following apostrophes are "captial" (whatever that might mean) - or whether blended is splendid; it's all enough to give anyone a headache - and a severe one if aggravated by the clangour of bells - not to mention bringing on an acute bout of apostrophobia morbidissima! I think I need a stiff whisky (though not a Bell's one, methinks)...

[ahinton]

Exactly the point. In context they are semantically different. That is allowable.

WH Smith was founded by Henry Walton Smith, but when he ceased to be head of the firm it was rebranded WH Smith after his son. And if they wish to trade as WHSmith, they are allowed to. Tim Waterstone could have called his company Waterstone, Tim Waterstone or - as he chose - Waterstone's. But there is no rule about what companies use as their trading name. If the Waterstone/Dillon/Ottakar/Smith conglomerate wished to change their/its name to Waterstones, that is their/its prerogative - just as William Henry Smith chose to change his company's name. You may disagree with/dislike the decision to change the name to Waterstones but you cannot make the loss of the apostrophe an 'error' because in context the apostrophe no longer has a 'meaning' vis-à-vis the new company.

This seems fair enough - what's in a name, after all? - although your last sentence here almost sounds like an adaptation of "you can lead a horse to Waterstones but you can't make it drink apostrophes"...

Foyle's, anyone?

[ED Sorry alistair - I pressed the wrong button - just ignore my presence )

[jean]

PS Wikipedia refers to it, as I typed it, as a 'precomposed triple-dot glyph'.

I always think of it as points de suspension, because the only context in which I ever heard it given a name was French dictation.

[french frank]

I always think of it as points de suspension, because the only context in which I ever heard it given a name was French dictation.

But could the three points de suspension have spaces between them? I presume they could, but needn't.

[Pulcinella]

Precisely so.

The context of my post was another post, in which there was to be found a repetition of a word quite different from the word itself. I don't think it was unreasonable of me to expect the word 'repetition' in my post to be understood as referring to the post I was responding to rather than taken in isolation.

Had I wished to make a metalinguistic comment about the word itself, I would have written "repetition of 'itself'" or "repetition of itself".

Oh dear! I think I have lost the will to live.
I was making the simple comment that, out of context, what you had written could be misintetpreted, to show the subleties and ambiguities of what we say and write.
Such an ambiguity could have been avoided, as you have accepted.

No big deal.
Sorry if my attempt at a bit of light humour fell flat, as it seems to have done.

[vinteuil]

I disagree - and so does Apple. The ellipsis is a single punctuation mark achieved by pressing the alt key and the colon/semicolon, not three separate dots.

PS Wikipedia refers to it, as I typed it, as a 'precomposed triple-dot glyph'.

... I think it's a little more complicated than that.

The wiki page is useful - tho' its "English" examples seem taken from American style books...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellipsis

My usual preference is not to have gaps...

[vinteuil]

But could the three points de suspension have spaces between them? I presume they could, but needn't.

... usually not, I think :

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Points_de_suspension

[french frank]

... I think it's a little more complicated than that.

The wiki page is useful - tho' its "English" examples seem taken from American style books...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellipsis

My usual preference is not to have gaps...

I meant the wiki page (which you link to) refers to the 'single' punctuation mark which can be achieved by one computer keystroke (and is without gaps) by the term 'precomposed triple-dot glyph', which it illustrates in the Background section. It seems to be yet another example where a degree of choice is allowed*. Unlike you, I prefer to leave a gap between the preceding character and the ellipsis. I also usually use […] to indicate an omission.

*Though it must be said that some bodies will allow no choice. But whether they all agree with each other, who can say?

[jean]

How many angels could dance on each of them?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I disagree - and so does Apple. The ellipsis is a single punctuation mark achieved by pressing the alt key and the colon/semicolon, not three separate dots.

PS Wikipedia refers to it, as I typed it, as a 'precomposed triple-dot glyph'.

I bow to your superior knowledge (though not Apple's and certainly not Wiki's).

However, it does seem to be stylistic choice.

[french frank]

I bow to your superior knowledge (though not Apple's […]

In this case I must protest that I have NO superior knowledge - other than how Apple has arranged my keyboard so that alt + colon/semicolon gives … I am even more ecstatic that alt + single/double quote gives æ which I have found particularly useful on many occasions.

[ahinton]

[ED Sorry alistair - I pressed the wrong button - just ignore my presence )

Now why on earth would I and how on earth could I do that?!...