What's bugging you? (2006)

[splitterpfj]

One of my clients at work loves to pronounce nuclear "nucular." I've heard reporters do this, politicians, all sorts of people who should be able to read the spelling and figure it out, it's really not a big word. Nuclear, not nucular, nuclear.

 

That's my issue today, what's yours?

[Schlitz001]

I've heard George W. Bush on numerous occasions also mispronounce the word ?nuclear?.

 

My beef today is with Buy One Get One Free sales. I went grocery shopping today and there was a BOGOF sale going on. I?m only shopping for myself and I had a list of set things that I wanted to buy. It seemed like everything on my list came with a free partner. Even though I only wanted one of everything that I bought, I felt compelled to buy double because the second item was free. Sometimes I stared at the free item and wondered if the cashier would catch me if I didn?t grab it along with my fully paid for item, ?You know sir, you get another pound of ham free with this pound?. I understand that they are just trying to move merchandise, but I would much rather have 50% or 25% off one item instead of watching my free item spoil in the frig.

[mothershipconnection]

Move to the South, Splitter. In rural areas down here, you'll hear even educated people mispronounce all kinds of words. I'm not talking about pronouncing it with a drawl, I'm talking about mixing the order of two syllables.

What really bugs me about speech is when grown people refer to their parents with baby nicknames like Daddy and Mommy. That, and the phrase "more importantly" when we deal with facts, which cannot act. One may act importantly, facts cannot act, thus they are "more important" rather than "more importantly".

Also, I hate unnecessary apostrophes, they drive me nuts. At a gas station, I saw them selling "banana's - 3/$1". What do these bananas own?

Also, I hate when you drive by a house and they have some wooden sign outside that they probably bought at a fair or a mall kiosk that welcomes you to "The Johnson's". No, it's "Johnsons" - you don't need an apostrophe to pluralize everything - only if it's shortened, such as shortening "Athletics" to "A's". In theory, you could replace "Johnsons" with "J's" if you really wanted to use that form of punctuation so badly.

 

What's really funny is that I looked up "unnecessary apostrophe on google while I typed this and found "banana's"-related article on wikipedia:

Apostrophes used incorrectly to form plurals are known as greengrocers' apostrophes (or grocers' apostrophes, or sometimes humorously greengrocers apostrophe's). It is believed that the term was first coined in the middle of the twentieth century by a teacher of languages working in Liverpool in the United Kingdom, at a time when such mistakes were common in the handwritten signs and advertisements of greengrocers, e.g., "Apple's 1'- a pound, orange's 1'6d a pound". In recent years, however, this misuse has become increasingly frequent in other forms of advertisement, particularly those of small businesses, e.g., from Hackney Market in London, UK: "Christma's Card's"[citation needed]. The practice comes from a widespread ignorance of the use of the apostrophe or of English grammar in general and the identical sound of the plural and possessive forms of most nouns. The reasons for the growth of the phenomenon are unknown. Some have argued that its use in mass communication by poorly educated employees of large companies has led to the less grammatically able accepting it as correct and adopting the habit themselves.

[trwi7]

I'm bugged by people asking what's bugging me.http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[shmooer]

Quote:

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Also, I hate when you drive by a house and they have some wooden sign outside that they probably bought at a fair or a mall kiosk that welcomes you to "The Johnson's". No, it's "Johnsons" - you don't need an apostrophe to pluralize everything - only if it's shortened, such as shortening "Athletics" to "A's". In theory, you could replace "Johnsons" with "J's" if you really wanted to use that form of punctuation so badly.

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??? It seems to me that "Johnson's" is the correct puncuation here. As in "This is the Johnson's house." Why you assume that it is supposed to mean "The Johnsons live here," I have no idea, especially if the punctuation suggests otherwise.

[mothershipconnection]

??? It seems to me that "Johnson's" is the correct puncuation here. As in "This is the Johnson's house." Why you assume that it is supposed to mean "The Johnsons live here," I have no idea, especially if the punctuation suggests otherwise.

"Johnson's" would only apply if it were a single person, rather than a family that resides in the house.

 

I've done my research, and here's what a newspaper editor who writes a grammar column had to say:

It is NOT "The Smith's." It is "The Smiths," no apostrophe. Pluralization does not freaking need an apostrophe. Unless letters are missing (the family name is really "Smithenstein," but they could only afford so many letters) or there are some more words and only one person lives there ("The Smith's ugly wooden sign&quothttp://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif , LEAVE THE APOSTROPHE OUT.

[hawing]

"This is the Johnsons' house" would be the right way to describe the house belonging to a family of Johnsons.

 

Those of you who are bugged by this kind of thing might like this website:

 

www.theatlantic.com/unbou.../index.htm

 

My mother has always said I should have been a proofreader, and while I enjoy the career I chose, her idea was probably good too.

[shmooer]

Gotcha.

 

Still though, can you have a possessive without an apostrophe? I've always thought that a plural possessive should read Johnsons'. Is that correct?

 

Edit: Hawing answered my question (if he is correct).

[DougJones43]

It is NOT "The Smith's." It is "The Smiths," no apostrophe. Pluralization does not freaking need an apostrophe. Unless letters are missing (the family name is really "Smithenstein," but they could only afford so many letters) or there are some more words and only one person lives there ("The Smith's ugly wooden sign" , LEAVE THE APOSTROPHE OUT.

 

That's different than what you said though. If your example of the sign is indeed short for "The Johnsons' house" it implies possesion/ownership. That's what you're missing, and why the apostraphe is necessary.

 

Now, if the sign you refer to simply means "the Johnsons live here" you wouldn't need an apostrophe because it is just plural, not possesive/ownership.

 

Usaully, putting a sign on something means "this object belongs to these people," so ownership is implied.

 

Hope that made sense.

 

edit: Oops. Yeah, hawing is correct. It should be Johnsons', not Johnson's like I originally said. Point remains the same that apostraphe is needed for possesion.

[whizkid]

Edit: Hawing answered my question (if he is correct).

 

Yes, she is correct.

[Mike Felder]

Grammar and punctuation Nazis bug me. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

 

Just kidding. I'm a teacher and my 2 best friends in college were English majors.

[IslandsAC]

I never saw the big problem with nuclear. I can never remember how to say it. I guess I'm a complete moron. I think if you can understand what a person is saying when they say nucular, you should maybe give them the benefit of the doubt. Same with soda vs. pop and water fountian vs. bubbler. It doesn't bug me of someone uses the 'wrong' one, it just bugs me when people make a big deal out of it as if they had no idea what the person was talking about.

 

also, the brewers.

[hawing]

Any of you Madison area types remember Angela Jacobs from channel 3 sports? She always said "Northwestren" instead of "Northwestern."

 

North-west-ren. Drove. Me. Insane.

 

I guess that's technically "what bugged me" several years ago.

[mothershipconnection]

Now, if the sign you refer to simply means "the Johnsons live here" you wouldn't need an apostrophe because it is just plural, not possesive/ownership

I'm pretty sure that's what it's intended to mean. That's why the sign will often read:

"The Simpson's

Homer

Marge

Bart

Lisa

Maggie"

 

In the case of the TV show "The Simpsons" - the show is not called "The Simpson's". It's like "the Simpson family" and not "the Simpsons' show".

 

Either way "The Simpson's" is wrong unless it's a single person who calls themself "The Simpson". I wouldn't mind a house sign that said The Simpsons', but you never see that.

[litesrn]

How many examples do we all see of this: their, they're; your; you're; accept, except; etc. etc. etc.

If your a true grammer nerd, it could make youse nuts, especially on the web!http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[mothershipconnection]

"Your" whatever gets me really frickin' irritated. I realize it only really matters when "your" a grammar nerd, but it really makes people look dumb.

[And That]

I basically just hate consumer 'Merica. 95% of Americans are dumb consumers, at least from my experience. I've been an assistant manager at a movie theater while going to school for the past few years, and the amazing idiocy I hear on a daily basis is amazing. I don't care if you're a soccer mom, you are not as stupid as to ask what the prices are for concessions when they are below you, above you and slightly less above you.

[NeedMoreFans]

Weather people. On last night's (Sunday) 10 PM news, they said it was supposed to be partly sunny today with a high near 80. I wake up, and it's cloudy and raining. I played golf at University Ridge today, so when I heard last night's weather forcast, I was pumped for a nice day on the course. But I got irritated when I was soaking wet for the first 10 holes. Yeah, it was really partly sunny today.

[DougJones43]

"Your" whatever gets me really frickin' irritated. I realize it only really matters when "your" a grammar nerd, but it really makes people look dumb.

 

Yeah, but it's an easy mistake to make when your at you're computer just quickly responding to something on a message board...

 

http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[pogokat]

everyone in my generation has a tattoo

[brewerjamie15]

We're packing for our move. I look around, see more and more work to do just to get outta this dump and I get more and more pissed.

That's what will be bugging me for a few days.

[AJAY]

What's bugging me? For some reason I usually hate this time of year. Summer is coming to an end, it gets dark earlier, fall is right around the corner, the Brewers are usually out of it, and baseball in general is winding down.

 

It's my least favorite time of the year.

[madcrewfan]

Quote:

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Any of you Madison area types remember Angela Jacobs from channel 3 sports? She always said "Northwestren" instead of "Northwestern."

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How about Brent Musberger and "WES-consin?" http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/eyes.gif

[danzig6767]

I'll start having to wear pants instead of shorts soon,even worse when it's time to break out jackets.

 

How often places i go out to eat at can't seem to grasp that asking for no onions in my food means i don't want onions in my food.

 

That onions are put in so many damn food dishes that i would like to eat otherwise.

 

That i don't hate something like green beans instead one of the most used foods on the planet.

 

When people cooking a meal tell me there are onions in the dish,but not to worry because they were only added for flavor.Hello,that's the flavor which makes me want to vomit.

 

That onions were ever created.

[TheCrew07]

The Brewers and Packers today.

 

Usually though, I love the fall, cause I love and coach football, so I generally have no issues this time of year.

 

Why do my cats (long story about a relationship) sleep all day and play all night? Last night I had to lock the kittens in the down stairs bathroom with their food, water, and litter so I could get some sleep. I would have never believed 2 little animals could make such noise running all over the house at 1 AM.