OT- When did Dual become Duel?

[cowcio]

I think we need to double the pay of all high school teachers. I'd be giving lashings after the first week.

[lakee911]

Originally posted by itZme
Originally posted by itZme
Sloth, that is one of the things that bothers me the most. I see so many people with aquarium's for sale or "frag's" or, on mailboxes, I see where people write "The Smith's" for the plural of Smith. I always think, "OK the Smith's what... mailbox?" Doesn't anyone remember that the apostrophe shows possession?

Is that really wrong? I would take it be like, ''The Smith's place'' and place is implied. It's kind of like, "I'm going down to the Smith's." What if there was only one guy there, it's still Smith's house, no? What do others think?

Jason

[porky]

I tend to agree with you on this one Jason. I think that the apostrophe implies ownership, thus The Smith's implies that this is the home of the Smith family.
I think if it was just The Smiths it could mean that there are a bunch of people in the house named Smith... No?

[Buckeye1]

Originally posted by cowcio
I think we need to double the pay of all high school teachers.

I agree 100%

[itZme]

Originally posted by lakee911
Is that really wrong? I would take it be like, ''The Smith's place'' and place is implied. It's kind of like, "I'm going down to the Smith's." What if there was only one guy there, it's still Smith's house, no? What do others think?

Jason

If you said "I'm going down to the Smith's." that would be incorrect because you are using the PLURAL of Smith. You would be going to the Smiths. If you said "I'm going to the Smith's house, the Smith's barn, the Smith's pond" etc... that would be correct because the apostrophe shows possession of the item following the name Smith. The original thing I was talking about is on a mailbox or a sign outside that says "The Smith's". I have seen signs that say "The Smith's" with a list below that said "John, Mary, Fred and Julie". This is where you are trying to say there are multiple Smiths living here not that the sign belongs to the Smith family so the apostrophe is not correct. It is like someone adding an apostrophe just because the word is being made plural such as "one dog" compared to "two dog's" where it is totally incorrect to use the apostrophe unless you meant the dog's teeth or the dog's collar.

Originally posted by porky
I think that the apostrophe implies ownership...
I think if it was just The Smiths it could mean that there are a bunch of people in the house named Smith... No?

Porky, exactly my point. If you are talking about a house belonging to the Smith family and you say "the Smiths live here" there is no apostrophe. If you say "this is the Smith's house" you would need one.

I'm not out to correct anyone that wants to use it incorrectly just wanted to whine and complain since that seemed to be the theme of the thread

How about this one. Speaking of a decade you do not need an apostrophe such as "back in the 50s" since it is just plural "fifties" but I see it used all the time like "I love the 80's"

[newsalt1]

Geeze Kevin the 80's?
or is it jeeze
or just g's
oh no apostrophe
apostrophy no no thats not it
let's do this
Shucks Kevin the 80's?
LOL we all have to much time on our hands

[itZme]

Originally posted by newsalt1
Geeze Kevin the 80's?
or is it jeeze
or just g's
oh no apostrophe
apostrophy no no thats not it
let's do this
Shucks Kevin the 80's?
LOL we all have to much time on our hands

Wow Ron, you must be really bored to be on CORAs forum AND make a post. I haven't seen you posting for months. It's nice to see you still around. By the way how were things back in the 40s and 50s?