Misuse of the apostrophe
 

Today upon a visit to the ladies I encountered the following signage -


LADIE'S PLEASE PUT ALL TOILET PAPER AND OTHER LITTER IN THE BIN!


Nooooooooooooooooooo!!!!! Why do people insist on throwing them in when a word ends in an 's'?


Learn the rule - contraction or possession

Re: Misuse of the apostrophe
 

*Ahem.*

Re: Misuse of the apostrophe
 

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Re: Misuse of the apostrophe.
 

I'm more bothered by the poop paper going in the bin (and not the toilet) than the hanging apostrophe...:sick:

Re: Misuse of the apostrophe.
 

+1

Re: Misuse of the apostrophe.
 

Sadly, I have to do that in my flat. Many of the toilets aren't designed to have toilet paper flushed down them.

Within the first three months, the toilet became blocked four times. And I don't use that much paper. :(

Re: Misuse of the apostrophe
 

As an ex-journalist, and someone still working in the writing trade, I know what you mean. I've lost count of how many times I've been tempted to carry a red permanent marker around with me and fix signs.

Re: Misuse of the apostrophe.
 

Do you know how old your flat is?

I always flushed the toilet tissue down the loo, in Abu Dhabi, and I left the place in the early/mid 90s.

Re: Misuse of the apostrophe
 

Inserting a redundant comma before the word "and' makes me very angry.

Re: Misuse of the apostrophe
 

It's a bracketing comma so is perfectly legal. It's linked to the second comma after trade.

Re: Misuse of the apostrophe
 

I must stress I don't really pay attention to punctuation when texting or typing on forums or FB however if I was making a sign for the general public to feast their eyes upon on I would make sure it was right. (take note I have used only one full stop in that epic ramble)

I type the way I talk - lots and without a care for pausing or stopping in the right places.;)

Re: Misuse of the apostrophe.
 

I have now permanently forgotten the apostrophe and am praying that I don't end up in your apartment block! On a positive note after reading your comment I have now pushed my bowl of Special K to the side........ A few more comments like that and I may be well on the road to a fast.;)

Re: Misuse of the apostrophe.
 

Eating Ketamine for breakfast is not big or clever... Especially during the holy month :hehe:

Re: Misuse of the apostrophe.
 

Use the hose. Paper is unnecessary and inefficient.

Re: Misuse of the apostrophe.
 

This thread is "load of crap" :D

Re: Misuse of the apostrophe.
 

:blink:Oh God:ohmy:

Re: Misuse of the apostrophe.
 

But doesn't drying your with paper afterwards defeat the object

Re: Misuse of the apostrophe.
 

I do. I just prefer to double up and make sure it's 100% clean ;)

Re: Misuse of the apostrophe.
 

You really must do big, big jobs.

Re: Misuse of the apostrophe
 

The loss of the English subjunctive 'were' is lamentable also. Even the BBC don't do it consistently any more :frown:

Re: Misuse of the apostrophe.
 

I thought that earlier, gave me my first laugh of the day but now .......

That's it the fast is on.... every time I think about eating something terribly unhealthy I'm going to think of those "big,big jobs.":sick:

Re: Misuse of the apostrophe.
 

As for 'the hose' that must be another thing that I'm going to have to get used to in Dubai! I can wait to be introduced to that.

Re: Misuse of the apostrophe
 

Perfectly correct. :)

Re: Misuse of the apostrophe.
 

Am I right in thinking you aren't here yet? if so you may not have come across the shataf (sp?) which I believe means snake in Arabic which is next to every loo. It's a water hose, used to clean your nether regions.

Re: Misuse of the apostrophe.
 

Yes, that's right. I fly out to Dubai two weeks today. Thanks for the insight Meow :-)
Looking forward to it very much (Dubai that is - not the hose!!)

Re: Misuse of the apostrophe.
 

You'd think that people were obsessed by the cleanliness of certain parts as most bathromms have both a shataf and a bidet. OCD??


You'll have to come along to the next BE drinks. That's assuming we can cope with the sight of each other yet again!

Re: Misuse of the apostrophe.
 

Definitely, I'd like that.

Re: Misuse of the apostrophe.
 

And I thought it was to wash your feet:lol:

Re: Misuse of the apostrophe.
 

To be honest, when I lived in JBR that was all the bidet got used for. :rofl:

Great for getting the sand off your feet without it ending up all over the bath.

Re: Misuse of the apostrophe.
 

Nope. Just a loo designed by someone who obviously doesn't use toilet paper.

When it got blocked the first time, I saw how narrow the outlet was. It's easily a third the size of a UK-style loo.

The building's plumber told me to use the hose only. I told him to **** off, and that paper is far more hygienic than just the hose.

Re: Misuse of the apostrophe
 

The subjunctive appears to be dying out in English (even in if-clauses), or at least going out of fashion.

Hardly ever used it in Scottish English.

Re: Misuse of the apostrophe.
 

(Grins like a Cheshire Cat)