The Flying Apostrophe

[Don Petter]

Well, once maybe. Suppose I say deuteragonists instead.

I like it when you talk dirty.

[eighthobstruction]

As a dyslexic who has complete and utter problems with grammar, punctuation, spelling, word concepts (eg effect/ affect).... and indeed with even seeing what might be a problem within a sentence I have written....may I just say....That I would be pleased if all pedants would go and add value to an olive/a pepper/a vine leave....

[salymap]

Italian piano also means "floor" which could lead to ambiguity. "Abbiamo due piani" might refer to your house or what you have in it. For this reason they might prefer "pianoforte" (plural "pianoforti").

Just what Iwas about to ask. Abbiamo due pianoforti ?,oh wellnot likely to need the question now

[Alain Maréchal]

Not a blackboard wiper thrown across the room?

A blackboard wiper hidden in the sleeve of a gown and swung at the back of the head, in my day.

[Bryn]

Would not the percussion instrument commonly referred to as a "piano" rather be written as "piano'"? It is, after all, an abbreviated form of "pianoforte".

[Oops! Bit of cross-posting there.]

[Don Petter]

As a dyslexic who has complete and utter problems with grammar, punctuation, spelling, word concepts (eg effect/ affect).... and indeed with even seeing what might be a problem within a sentence I have written....may I just say....That I would be pleased if all pedants would go and add value to an olive/a pepper/a vine leave....

Sort of 'Follow the Via Dolmarosa'?

[ahinton]

"To" instead of "too" seems commonplace as well....

I know; it's really just two bad, is'nt, it?!...

[Pabmusic]

A blackboard wiper hidden in the sleeve of a gown and swung at the back of the head, in my day.

Ah - those were the days...

[Beef Oven!]

Not a blackboard wiper thrown across the room?

No, that might hit an 'innocent' person by accident.

[Pabmusic]

No, that might hit an 'innocent' person by accident.

I always thought that was part of the fun.

[ahinton]

Am I right in thinking it is Dutch usage to use an apostrophe before the 's' in the plural of words ending in a vowel?

I'm not sure about that, but "'s-Hertogenbosch" arguably takes in an apostrophe and a Grewish hyphen and it's perhaps not as clear as it might be whther its meaning is "the Duke's forest" or "the Dukes' forest", altbhough today, the ducal reference has largely been cast to the winds as the Dutch now refer to the place as "den Bosch", a town famous for having hosted the world première of Sorabji's sixth and final piano symphony as played by Jonathan Powell on 27 October last (see the thread about the UK première of this work under the Hear and Now section).

Speaking of the Dutch - and whilst it's not quite on-topic in terms of apostrophic use and misuse, their country's name is "the Netherlands" yet it is often referred to as "Holland" even though Holland is only one part thereof; as its population speak neither Hollandais(e) noe Netherlandish but Dutch, perhaps the topic could claim some place in a consideration of this anomalous situation to the extent that a Flying Apostrophe might have been the invention of a Flying Dutchman...

[ahinton]

Not so with LP's though. I should not of sold all my vinyl, their worth a fortune now, more than in the 70's

Do'nt you mean that you "should'nt" have sold all you're vinyl?...

[muzzer]

Good point about the Netherlands, and all too often overlooked.

[Pabmusic]

Good point about the Netherlands, and all too often overlooked.

Yes, and we sometimes forget that 'Dutch' is simply an Anglicisation of Deutsch.

[Beef Oven!]

Do'nt you mean that you "should'nt" have sold all you're vinyl?...

If you look a little closer, you might notice that there areat least 4 deliberate mistakes in my post. I thought you would of noticed. Answers on a postcard too some one whose interested.