Dragaera

Off topic - grammar question

Wed Jun 23 10:04:08 PDT 2004


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gomi no Sensei [mailto:gomi at speakeasy.net]
>
> On Tue, 22 Jun 2004, Howard Brazee wrote:
>
> > Using capitalization to indicate a plural such as "CDs" is
> relatively new.
> > Using the apostrophe is pretty old and well established.
>
> Um, what? Capitalisation does not indicate a plural, and I never
> said it did.
> Capitalisation indicates an acronym, as in CD for Compact Disc or ATM for
> Automated Teller Machine. Using an apostrophe-s to indicate a plural is
> neither old nor well established, and mere commonality of usage
> is not some
> sort of lapis philosophorum that renders the incorrect correct.
>
> pe
> "the kid's took both car's to shop for grocery's" indeed
>
>

FWIW & IIRC, ATM = Asynchronous Transfer Mode, IMHO. LOL

Sorry. :)

It's intruiging, and not a little bit sad, that I have caught myself
speaking/typing a conversation almost exclusively in acronyms. Various
industries have their own language, but the computer field seems to
be especially full of it.

W

Southerner: "Mornin'. What're y'all up to?"
Northerner: "In the civilized north, we do not end sentences in a
preposition."
Southerner: *thinks* "So, what're y'all up to, asshole?"