Uncle’s New Years Resolution, As Suggested By Tgirsch
22 Responses to “Uncle’s New Years Resolution, As Suggested By Tgirsch”
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December 31st, 2008 at 2:29 pm
i do know the difference. I just type faster than I proofread.
December 31st, 2008 at 2:47 pm
I used to read this blog every day. Now it is no good because the first several stories are unreadable. The right side bar obscures a bunch of text, so why even click on it? How frustrating. Oh, well. After a few days the stories are old enough that they become readable by dropping below the side bar.
December 31st, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Despite the fact that I disagree with most of what you write, plus the tone you write it in, I am still glad you blog here. I wouldn’t read you anywhere else, but I figure it helps me to be a better person to try and understand your perspective on some things.
December 31st, 2008 at 3:42 pm
G. Marshall, we’re working on that. Seems to be an issue the site has with internet explorer version six.
December 31st, 2008 at 6:14 pm
This site renders best in Firefox, is a bit less favorably disposed to IE7 or Opera and really sucks in IE6.
That I know these things (thing’s?) may be an indication of how often I come back for education in things (things’?) possessive and plural.
Have an excellent new year.
December 31st, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Spread the word throughout the land! (or at least the blogosphere) That’s one of my worst pet peeves and drives me crazy to see the improper usage. But I don’t comment on others’ bad grammar or spelling.
December 31st, 2008 at 6:36 pm
It’s and its had been an issue for years.
A group of dictionary publishers had a symposium over the issue back in 1991, and decided that, for American English, at least, that the possessive will not use the apostrophe.
So, up until then, your usage was acceptable.
December 31st, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Uncle:
I know you know better. Part of the reason it bugged me so much when I saw those was that it’s unusual for you. It’s not something you do very often.
Anyway, have a bourbon for me tonight.
Kristopher:
I’d like to see documentary evidence of that. It sounds awfully fishy. For starters, I learned it’s/its well before 1991. But more importantly, possessive pronouns are completely consistent across the board — none of them takes an apostrophe. You don’t write hi’s, her’s, our’s, or their’s, so you wouldn’t write “it’s” (meaning possessive), either. (Although, this being the South, I suppose many of you would write “y’all’s,” or the even worse abmoination, “ya’ll’s” … )
_Jon:
I thought I did a pretty good job of keeping my tone quite civil most of the time. π Then again, the way Uncle can peg the snark-o-meter sometimes, maybe that civil tone is what you don’t like. π
December 31st, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Kristopher, I don’t know what happened in 1991, but “it’s” has never been an acceptable alternative to “its” anywhere in the English-speaking world. Maybe a better, more generalized (generalised?) New Year’s resolution would be for all o’y’all to agree that an apostrophe doesn’t mean “Look out, here comes an S!”
TGirsch: I’ve heard you’re-all’s, too.
December 31st, 2008 at 10:09 pm
We often see “their” and “there” being used interchangeably, sometimes even with “they’re”, as in, “There going to the store to get milk”. Then there are “two”, “too”, and “to” getting mixed up a lot. And “and” and “an”. Its just to much for me too handle when I read stuff from people an their doing that all teh time.
t; So we’ve abandoned the practice of stating our own resolutions, and taken up the practice of assigning them to others? That’s in perfect character for a lefty. You’ve no idea how perfect.
In that spirit, here’s your assigned new year’s resolution; Read (and understand– for that you’ll need to keep a dictionary handy) “Capitalism” by Ayn Rand, read Walter E. Williams’ column every week, and listen to either Rush Limbaugh or Michael Savage every day for six weeks. Only then will we have any good reason for another discussion (it’s very little to ask. Since I wasted decades passionately embracing and advancing your point of view, we’d still be far from even).
January 1st, 2009 at 8:31 am
Eye donut no watt is rong with you’re spelling; their is know way wee could reed anything in two the incorrect use of apostrophe’s that would lede us too believe your knot a skilled language artist. At least eye don’t sea anything.
January 1st, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Xrlq:
Yeah, I’ve heard that one too. I shuddered just reading it. π And I loved your “look out!” description.
Lyle:
Seems we started at opposite ends of the spectrum, and wound up where the other started. In the mid-90’s, I used to listen to Rush every day at work. Then I started thinking for myself and that pretty much put an end to that. Hell, most of my conservative friends (and, believe it or not, I have quite a few) recognize Limbaugh for the blowhard hack that he is.
As for Capitalism, I’m still waiting for you to find me the large print version with lots of pictures. In any case, I already have the Cliff’s Notes for Rand: “Look out for #1, everyone else can go fuck themselves.” That about sum it up? π
But since we’re handing out New Years Resolutions for others, I’ll assign you yours (two, actually): lighten up, and learn to take a joke. π
January 1st, 2009 at 6:08 pm
tgirsh:
Originally, the apostrophe was only used to replace missing obvious letters in contractions. It migrated to possessives only in the case of nouns ending with “se” … Jameses was replaced with James’s, which was correct usage at the time, as you were using it to mark the missing “e”.
This caused it to drift into ALL possessives over time.
There was a running catfight about the legitimacy of possessive it’s through the twentieth century, with the old school crowd ( and most especially the British ) wanting to see the thing taken out and shot.
In 1991, we were finishing up our work on a Macintosh tools set at Central Point Software, and an argument erupted with the tech writer working on the manual over “its”.
We went to the dictionarys of American English we had available at the time, and saw that they did not agree on the issue. So the tech writer wrote them all letters requesting a decision on the matter.
She was invited to attend a meeting they set up on this very issue.
The company paid for her airfare and hotel bill … and got a decision less than a week later.
Since then, possessive it’s is unanimously considered bad American English by all the large dictionary publishers.
And no, Tgirsh, I don’t have any websites I can send you, as this happened in 1991 … so I guess if it didn’t happen on the internet, it must not have realy happened.
January 1st, 2009 at 9:19 pm
I hate to break this to you, but I have am English grammar guide that was published in 1985, and it’s very clear on “its” versus “it’s,” internet notwithstanding.
And, of course, I’ve heard rumors that the internet actually has documentation of stuff that happened before the advent of the internet. I know it sounds implausible, but trust me, it’s actually true.
So, again, unless you can point me to a credible source — even a book title — that pinpoints 1991 as the time frame, or that it was ever acceptable to use “it’s” as a possessive at any time in the 20th century, I’m afraid I still have to call BS. π I’ve simply never, ever, ever heard its use defended by any credible authority, at any time in my life.
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:34 pm
“The English Grammar guide”?
You have AN english grammar guide. There are several published … they are not monolithic.
We looked this up in several American English guides and dictionaries that were published at the time., and found that they all did not agree at the time.
They all do now.
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Then this should be a simple dispute to resolve, then. All you have to do is give me an example of an accredited guide that had it the other way.
It’s worth noting that the grammar guide I have was very meticulous about pointing out when there was a disagreement about what’s proper, as well as what’s colloquially acceptable but not formally acceptable. I’ll check again, but I’m pretty sure it says NOTHING about “it’s” being allowable as a possessive.
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Frankly, I think you’re just pulling our collective chain. π
January 2nd, 2009 at 2:13 pm
I agree, and when TGirsch and I agree on anything, it means we’re right. [Not really a compliment to TGirsch, so much as a logical outgrowth of the fact that I’m always right.]
January 2nd, 2009 at 2:59 pm
I agree, and when TGirsch and I agree on anything, it means were right.
Actually, it usually means that some angel is breaking a seal and/or blowing a horn somewhere. π
January 2nd, 2009 at 3:07 pm
For completeness, my grammar guide is English Simplified, Fifth Edition, by Blanche Ellsworth and revised by John A. Higgins, York College, CUNY. ISBN 0-06-041903-2. The first edition dates to 1950, fifth edition published in 1985. I would have purchased it in 1989, as it was a required volume for a college class I was then taking. All of these dates, it should be noted, are before 1991.
January 4th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
As an English teacher, I am compelled by a drive lemmings can only aspire to to point out that “it’s” has never, ever been correctly used as a possessive pronoun. The grammar book I use with my Fundamental class is thirty years old (mute witness to the parsimony of the local school board), and the issue was clearly settled by then. Furthermore, I have interviewed a few of my superannuated colleagues, and they confirm the absolute lunacy of the claim to the contrary. Finally, I consulted a fifty-year-old World Book Encyclopedia. No change, no controversy. “It’s” has ALWAYS been a conjunction of “it is.”
January 4th, 2009 at 10:36 pm
Unless, of course, “It” is a proper noun, as in the case of the Addams family. In that case, anything belonging to It is correctly referred to as “It’s.”