Note of pedantry

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Master Baiter Joined: 22 Apr 2007 Posts: 209

in the top bit "FAQ's" shouldn't have an apostrophe. It should just be FAQs.
Glad to be a pedant.

419Eater Admin Joined: 30 Sep 2003 Posts: 7469

Actually, you're wrong; the FAQ belongs to Mr. Faq. It's Faq's FAQ Wink

I'll have it fixed Embarassed

Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 10:24 am

@ ezablade

WOW the boss spoke to you Cool

he has never spoken to me,, I feel neglected Crying or Very sad

Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 10:26 am

@shiver

Welcome back. The place has been going to pot since you went away. Laughing

419Eater Admin Joined: 30 Sep 2003 Posts: 7469

@ Dark Spirit: Hello! Sorry if I neglected you, it wasn't on purpose if I did Smile

@ TS: Yes. I'm manning the sweeping brush as I write. Not an easy thing to do I can tell you.

Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 10:36 am

@ shiver metimbers,

Well with this many members, somebody has to be neglected , it's a cross I will bear Crying or Very sad

Ok seriously it is great to be here and I just love it, everybody here is fantastic for all the things they do... Laughing

Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 11:14 am

Re the original point. (FAQ's or FAQs):
It should be neither of those examples.

It should be just plain old FAQ

The abbreviation stands for Frequently Asked Questions. (plural)

The apostrophe 's' is used for the possessive form of a singular noun.
It can also be used to denote a missing letter or letters.
Apostrophes are NEVER ever used to denote plurals.

So, the item in the page header is incorrect, as is the OP pedant. Laughing

Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 3:49 pm

' taken out

Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 5:07 pm

Further, "Frequently Asked Questions" uses the passive tense, which we all remember from Strunk & White should be avoided at all costs. Frequently asked? Who by?

The correct acronym should be QTPFA ("Questions That People Frequently Ask").

(I count at least 5 mistakes and/or debatable usages in my message. Can you find more?)

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

when at the end of a long long day
which includes being sworn at by real people
and having no lads on line on whom I can vent my spleen.
I have got to say it.
faq off, who cares?

Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 12:13 am

Breddan Butter wrote:

Re the original point. (FAQ's or FAQs):
It should be neither of those examples.

It should be just plain old FAQ

Actually, I am going to have to agree with the OP (at the risk of upsetting a MOD!!!), it should be FAQs, it appears to be a collection of Frequently Asked Questions. So there is more than ONE set of FAQ when you click that link.

Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 12:48 am

Quote:

The place has been going to pot

I was thinking about going there myself, Potsville. Either that, or Hydrocodoneburg, or Lorazepam Town. There's always, Hoochville and Brew City.

Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 2:48 am

@mc,

If you really read Strunk & White instead of just looking at the pictures Wink

, you'll know how much they hate adverbs and general unnecessary padding-type useless irrelevant wordy verbiage.

So, 'Frequently' has to go.

Questions That People Often Ask (QTPOA). Smile

I'm not even sure about the 'That'.

Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 3:07 am

^^^ Well, if you take S&W to their full measure, it would just be "Questions", because otherwise it is redundant (questions don't just ask themselves!). Or, more literally, "Answers to Common Questions." Furthermore... ah, to hell with it. FAQ Strunk & White.

Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 11:24 am

Quote:

The rules of The Elements of Style were as simple to state -- 'Omit needless words' -- as they were difficult to obey

You win.

I only recently found out that he (White) wrote for The New Yorker for sixty years. BTW, is this thread far enough OT now? Cool

** ACCOUNT CLOSED ** Joined: 15 Apr 2007 Posts: 766

This thread should be titled "A Note of Pedantry."

I win.

--J.D.

Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 5:16 pm

Strunk & White were a couple of old grouches whose view of the English language was strongly biased by Victorian prescriptivist views often based on Latin grammar (splitting infinitives being a particular good example of this). Stringently following their doctrines is pointless.

Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 6:54 pm

^^^ Oh, I agree completely! I was just having a little fun with it, as I had a university prof who absolutely adored Strunk & White and made editing papers a living hell.

Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 7:38 pm

Enough of this- just stick to English!

Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 9:13 pm

Where I come from, it's quite simply said as "Wassup?"