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Topic Options #187473 - 10/27/09 04:00 PM NYT's omission dalehileman Pooh-Bah Registered: 07/10/05 Posts: 1719 Loc: Apple Valley, CA, USA The New York Times recently quit using the apostrophe with an abbreviation (eg, DVDs) though I had always considered its use as virtually mandatory, but changes taking place in the media and popular culture overwhelm my traditional understanding of usage in the Mother Tongue For instance the stylebook for our local Fourth Estate, The Victorville, CA Daily Press, evidently allows for the interchange of "lay" and "lie," where more than once we have noted a usage like, "...a woman laying beside the road..." While the traditional scholar might anticipate the imminent arrest of the woman on grounds of indecent exposure, the new usage is no doubt meant to allay the possible assumption that she is instead seated curbside using a cellphone to spread rumors and untruths Eg, lying beside the highway In the Press' defense, however, to lay is doubtless becoming widespread as we have also noted the occasional laying even in AP stories. By coincidence in today's Press , "The victim had drank a large amount of alcohol...." Perhaps the woman was laying there because she had drank so much, suggesting another linguistic twist in a parallel vein (no puns intended) _________________________ dalehileman Top #187477 - 10/27/09 08:48 PM Re: NYT's omission [Re: dalehileman] doc_comfort addict Registered: 01/18/01 Posts: 583 Loc: Australia Originally Posted By: dalehileman The New York Times recently quit using the apostrophe with an abbreviation I could never work out why there was an apostrophe there in the first place. Top #187483 - 10/28/09 06:09 AM Re: NYT's omission [Re: doc_comfort] Faldage Carpal Tunnel Registered: 12/01/00 Posts: 12381 There are times when it is helpful, but, as a general rule, I leave it out. How many is are there in the previous sentence? Top #187486 - 10/28/09 09:40 AM Re: NYT's omission [Re: Faldage] tsuwm Carpal Tunnel Registered: 04/03/00 Posts: 9400 Loc: this too shall pass Originally Posted By: Faldage There are times when it is helpful, but, as a general rule, I leave it out. How many is are there in the previous sentence? I count four(4) is; but there is only one Is. -joe (ambiguity are our friend) friday Top #187487 - 10/28/09 09:51 AM Re: NYT's omission [Re: tsuwm] Buffalo Shrdlu Carpal Tunnel Registered: 06/24/02 Posts: 6596 Loc: Vermont I got five, though one is a bit uppity. and one is. Top #187507 - 10/28/09 11:01 PM Re: NYT's omission [Re: Buffalo Shrdlu] twosleepy old hand Registered: 02/28/08 Posts: 724 Loc: western NY Nope. There's only one... Top #187512 - 10/29/09 07:28 AM Re: NYT's omission [Re: twosleepy] Faldage Carpal Tunnel Registered: 12/01/00 Posts: 12381 There's no I in TEAM, but there is in WIN. Top Previous Topic Index Next Topic Preview Hop to: General Topics ------   Information and announcements   Q&A about words   Wordplay and fun   Words and languages in schools   Miscellany   Weekly Themes   Looking for (writers, speakers, ...) (Old) Weekly themes. (have been consolidated into a single forum above) ------   Words from medicine   Beheading words   Meta-words   Words from classical mythology   Animal Safari   Words with unusual etymologies   Eponyms or words derived from people's names.   Loanwords from German   English as a global language Print Topic Switch to Threaded Mode View profile Send a PM Add to your Watched Users View posts View profile Send a PM Add to your Watched Users View posts View profile Send a PM View homepage Add to your Watched Users View posts View profile Send a PM View homepage Add to your Watched Users View posts View profile Send a PM View homepage Add to your Watched Users View posts View profile Send a PM Add to your Watched Users View posts View profile Send a PM View homepage Add to your Watched Users View posts Forum Stats 7151 Members 16 Forums 12706 Topics 187593 Posts Max Online: 853 @ 10/23/07 11:39 AM Who's Online 0 registered (), 15 Guests and 28 Spiders online. Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod Newest Members Crejella, larsrc, KIDDETROIT, marksonamor, poetree 7151 Registered Users Top Posters wwh 13858 Faldage 12381 Jackie 10232 tsuwm 9400 Buffalo Shrdlu 6596 AnnaStrophic 6481 Wordwind 6296 of troy 5400 maverick 4683 WhitmanO'Neill 4186 November Su M Tu W Th F Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

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