Apostrophe

iCraig · 16 Feb 2007 at 16:01

The ones that annoy me are those who refuse to use any type of apostrophe or punctuation mark, like:

im really annoyed its not fair marks doctor is so much richer than any ive had im so sick of it

Then they say "it aint a english lesson lol" when you tell them that you're struggling to read what they've typed.

iCraig · 16 Feb 2007 at 16:03

daz said:
No, because if you could care less about it, then that means you care about it.

Which is the correct context for that phrase.

Saying 'I could care less about my sister' means, for example: I care about her, obviously, but I could care less, as I don't like her. Meaning you wouldn't have a problem caring less about her if she did something to you.

dirtydog · 16 Feb 2007 at 16:05

iCraig said:
Which is the correct context for that phrase.

Saying 'I could care less about my sister' means, for example: I care about her, obviously, but I could care less, as I don't like her. Meaning you wouldn't have a problem caring less about her if she did something to you.

:/

iCraig · 16 Feb 2007 at 16:07

Like I said, it's only misused when people use the phrase to say that they have absolutely no regard for a certain person or thing, in which case yes, "I couldn't care less" should be the phrase used.

They're still both valid phrases though.

Rich_L · 16 Feb 2007 at 16:09

Heh I remember the thread a while back provoked by some professor dude stating that apostrophes were redundant

dirtydog · 16 Feb 2007 at 16:10

Rich_L said:
Heh I remember the thread a while back provoked by some professor dude stating that apostrophes were redundant

I guess that proves that being a professor doesn't mean you don't talk rubbish

dirtydog · 16 Feb 2007 at 16:11

iCraig said:
Like I said, it's only misused when people use the phrase to say that they have absolutely no regard for a certain person or thing, in which case yes, "I couldn't care less" should be the phrase used.

They're still both valid phrases though.

Surely you would have to say 'I could care more', not less :shrug:

Spyhop · 16 Feb 2007 at 16:11

iCraig said:
That's a perfectly correct phrase.

It implies that a subject doesn't really bother you -- you could care less about it.

Are you confusing it with, "I couldn't care less"? Which means that you utterly have no time for a subject.

Similar phrases with slightly different meanings.

That does work, but it is generally not used in that way, is it?. People almost always actually mean that they couldn't care less. I even prepared a picture in case of emergencies.

iCraig · 16 Feb 2007 at 16:12

careometer

Rich_L · 16 Feb 2007 at 16:13

dirtydog said:
I guess that proves that being a professor doesn't mean you don't talk rubbish

Hmm Im not so sure myself, I wouldnt be so quick to dismiss his notion that apostrophes are redundant when context is taken into account

krooton · 16 Feb 2007 at 16:13

iCraig said:
Like I said, it's only misused when people use the phrase to say that they have absolutely no regard for a certain person or thing, in which case yes, "I couldn't care less" should be the phrase used.

They're still both valid phrases though.

Both valid phrases indeed, but as said, whenever someone says that they could care less, they mean the implication that 'I couldn't care less' has.

dirtydog · 16 Feb 2007 at 16:13

wush said:
I even prepared a picture for Americans

Fixed

krooton · 16 Feb 2007 at 16:16

wush said:
That does work, but it is generally not used in that way, is it?. People almost always actually mean that they couldn't care less. I even prepared a picture in case of emergencies.

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-ico1.htm

That has an in depth look at it, lol

divine` · 16 Feb 2007 at 16:31

iCraig said:
That's a perfectly correct phrase.

It implies that a subject doesn't really bother you -- you could care less about it.

Are you confusing it with, "I couldn't care less"? Which means that you utterly have no time for a subject.

Similar phrases with slightly different meanings.

I meant when people quite plainly mean to type 'I couldn't care less' but somehow totally miss the n't

dirtydog · 16 Feb 2007 at 16:37

divine_madness said:
I meant when people quite plainly mean to type 'I couldn't care less' but somehow totally miss the n't

99% of those people being Americans, or people who have picked up the bad habit from watching American TV.

Americans seem to have learned a whole different (and bad) version of English. Like the way many of them say 'don't got' instead of 'haven't got' for example. Ugh.

JollyGreen · 16 Feb 2007 at 16:40

What winds me up is that nobody in the world seems to know the difference between Affect and Effect these days...

krooton · 16 Feb 2007 at 16:42

JollyGreen said:
What winds me up is that nobody in the world seems to know the difference between Affect and Effect these days...

You'd think Lynx's ad campaign would help them remember too

Rich_L · 16 Feb 2007 at 16:44

JollyGreen said:
What winds me up is that nobody in the world seems to know the difference between Affect and Effect these days...

Arguably, context provides enough information to make the two words effectively synonymous

dirtydog · 16 Feb 2007 at 16:46

Rich_L said:
Arguably, context provides enough information to make the two words effectively synonymous

Isn't that just a nice cop out for thick people though?

Rich_L · 16 Feb 2007 at 16:52

dirtydog said:
Isn't that just a nice cop out for thick people though?

I suppose thats one way you could look at it, another way would be that its simply showing the affect of language evolving, that two words, when the difference between them are bordering on illogical, are becoming synonymous and perhaps in time one will become redundant, effecting English-speaking people everywhere!