Grammar that makes you cringe

[Tim Hall]

New! Shiny! window graphics have been applied at my place of work, with company branding, line drawings of products ect ect. They look very nice.

Except two office doors are being labelled up with the names of the occupants like this:  "Bob's Office".  Except there's no apostrophe. It'll make my teeth itch every time I look at it.

Chewing some sand paper should help with that.

Through gritted teeth.

As an aside, is that the sort of thing you're involved in? The window graphics that is, not abrasive tooth treatment.

[citoyen]

Maybe that's the office where they store Bobs? So you know where to go when you need to replenish your supply.

[Regulator]

New! Shiny! window graphics have been applied at my place of work, with company branding, line drawings of products ect ect. They look very nice.

Except two office doors are being labelled up with the names of the occupants like this:  "Bob's Office".  Except there's no apostrophe. It'll make my teeth itch every time I look at it.

Change your name to Bob and lay claim to the office.

[CAMRAMan]

The University of Warwick spent £000s on etched windows as a global map for the post building. They spelled Antarctic correctly, but Artic was used instead of Arctic. Maybe they wanted lorries to use it?

[Jurek]

New! Shiny! window graphics have been applied at my place of work, with company branding, line drawings of products ect ect. They look very nice.

Except two office doors are being labelled up with the names of the occupants like this:  "Bob's Office".  Except there's no apostrophe. It'll make my teeth itch every time I look at it.

Chewing some sand paper should help with that.

Through gritted teeth.

As an aside, is that the sort of thing you're involved in? The window graphics that is, not abrasive tooth treatment.

My bold.
Very much so. Probably 60% - 70% or more of what I deal with .
ETA - without stating the obvs. your cock-ups appear to be down to the artworker/designer rather than the printer.

[Kim]

Some enterprising person with a vinyl cutter must make stick-on apostrophe kit's for pedants, shirley?

[Tim Hall]

I hope so. Although an apostrophe will spoil the line of the lettering.   

The grahpics people were in again today, applying a small arc of sticky stuff to fix an error in a line drawing representation. Invisible mending.

I think the apostrophe thing was down to my teenaged boss. Nice enough but spelling and punctuation are not his strong points.

[citoyen]

I hope so. Although an apostrophe will spoil the line of the lettering.   

Talking of which…

From our 8th floor office window, we have an excellent view of the new Sadler’s Wells building going up in Stratford. You can tell it’s Sadler’s Wells because it says so in very large letters on the side.

The designers on our team have been gnashing their teeth for weeks over the appalling kerning of the sign - there’s a massive gap between the apostrophe and the s in Sadler’s.

I’m not a designer but even I find it really glaring and grating.

[Pingu]

Unusual apostrophe use (amongst other things).


PXL_20240111_115916699 by The Pingus, on Flickr

[fimm]

Is it just me, or would others prefer "associated with" over "associated to"? I have a colleague who does stuff "associated to" other stuff all the time and it annoys me...

[T42]

Is it just me, or would others prefer "associated with" over "associated to"? I have a colleague who does stuff "associated to" other stuff all the time and it annoys me...

Associated to is clueless bollocks, so you'll be hearing it on the Beeb any day now.

[drossall]

Association is usually a bidirectional relationship. "To" does not really convey that. There again, the origins of "different" lie in "carrying away", which is why "different to" i.e."carrying away to" jars so much - it's another prepositional oxymoron.

[T42]

The plural noun premises used as a singular, as in "police were called to a premises", which I have even seen used by lawyers who should know better.  Plural nouns take plural grammar.

[Tim Hall]

The plural noun premises used as a singular, as in "police were called to a premises", which I have even seen used by lawyers who should know better.  Plural nouns take plural grammar.

I was watching one of those rubbish Police Knicking Villains programmes the other day. One of the Boys in Blue kept referring to "a premise", which caused cringing.

[Regulator]

The plural noun premises used as a singular, as in "police were called to a premises", which I have even seen used by lawyers who should know better.  Plural nouns take plural grammar.

As far as I am aware, whilst 'premises' is plural it can be used with a singular verb.  I've seen it used quite frequently in planning applications.

[cygnet]

I hope so. Although an apostrophe will spoil the line of the lettering.   

Talking of which…

From our 8th floor office window, we have an excellent view of the new Sadler’s Wells building going up in Stratford. You can tell it’s Sadler’s Wells because it says so in very large letters on the side.

The designers on our team have been gnashing their teeth for weeks over the appalling kerning of the sign - there’s a massive gap between the r and the apostrophe in Sadler’s.

I’m not a designer but even I find it really glaring and grating.

Inevitably
There's a thread for that sort of thing

[T42]

The plural noun premises used as a singular, as in "police were called to a premises", which I have even seen used by lawyers who should know better.  Plural nouns take plural grammar.

As far as I am aware, whilst 'premises' is plural it can be used with a singular verb.  I've seen it used quite frequently in planning applications.

Ignorance of grammar is no longer a surprise these days.  I was pleased yesterday to see the preposition outside used without a following of. Mind you, the book was from 1984.

[citoyen]

Inevitably
There's a thread for that sort of thing

How did I not see that thread before? Excellent. I shall have to take a picture and share it there.

[Auntie Helen]

Looking at property listings on Zoopla and Rightmove and almost every house comprises of…

[T42]

A real cringifyer being should/could/would of.

[mrcharly-YHT]

let me get back to you momentarily

Seems in the USA momentarily means 'at any moment'.

Reading it is like chewing on a pumice stone.

[jsabine]

The plural noun premises used as a singular, as in "police were called to a premises", which I have even seen used by lawyers who should know better.  Plural nouns take plural grammar.

Standard Irish usage that, I thought. At any rate, where in the UK you might get "No Trespassing" in Ireland it's common to see signs nailed to decrepit doors or rural gateposts informing you that "This is a premises" within the meaning of whatever act.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Survivors of the attack say they were hit by two HIMARS missiles, seen here being launched in May 2023

I thought these missiles are fast.

[Kim]

Chinese boats fire water at a Philippine vessel

Is that really the best verb?  I'd accept 'shoot', and recognise that 'squirt' doesn't really convey the pressure involved (firefighting equipment being used as an offensive weapon).

[Cudzoziemiec]

Chinese boats fire water at a Philippine vessel

Is that really the best verb?  I'd accept 'shoot', and recognise that 'squirt' doesn't really convey the pressure involved (firefighting equipment being used as an offensive weapon).

Fire as a verb is not necessarily connected with conflagration. It was used in archery contexts before the arrival of gunpowder in Europe. Nevertheless, "shoot" would seem more appropriate in this context.