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Previous Thread Next Thread Print Thread Page 2 of 3 1 2 3 two cents' worth #91888 01/14/03 06:16 PM Joined: Feb 2002 Posts: 833 Eastern Ontario, Canada M modestgoddess old hand modestgoddess old hand M Joined: Feb 2002 Posts: 833 Eastern Ontario, Canada I'm with johnjohn and Bean, too. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: apostrophic point 2 #91889 01/14/03 09:34 PM Joined: Jul 2002 Posts: 742 Akina S sjm old hand sjm old hand S Joined: Jul 2002 Posts: 742 Akina Well RhubC, since you're standing alone in a sea of apostrophes, I shall sink with you - I too read it as you did, that no such appendage was needed. Being semi-literate(on a good day) I refrained from saying so, but when someone else voiced my opinion, I decided I could fall on my sword with that one, even while being swept away by the tide of contrary views. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: apostrophic point 2 #91890 01/15/03 04:52 PM Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 11,613 Louisville, Kentucky Jackie Carpal Tunnel Jackie Carpal Tunnel Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 11,613 Louisville, Kentucky johnjohn, how wonderful to see you back here! <grin> I've missed you! I have no idea of what this movie is about, but I could go with Faldage's Rx, if Anna's hyphen is added: I could approve saying, "It was a two-week notice." However, movie titles generally don't have any context, and so in this case I think we have to go with the obvious interpretation. Therefore, it should have the apostrophe, because the whole phrase (anybody recall the 'at high tide' addition onto our 'happy as a clam' discussion?) is: two weeks' worth of notice. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: apostrophic point 2 #91891 01/15/03 05:06 PM Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 Faldage Carpal Tunnel Faldage Carpal Tunnel Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 two weeks' worth of notice Huh? What does that mean? Is it twice as valuable as one week's worth of notice? Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: apostrophic point 2 #91892 01/15/03 05:09 PM Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 1,692 UK D dxb Pooh-Bah dxb Pooh-Bah D Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 1,692 UK It's worth another weeks money! Ed: or possibly another weeks' money, or another week's money??!! [baffled-e] Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: apostrophic point 2 #91893 01/15/03 05:15 PM Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 11,613 Louisville, Kentucky Jackie Carpal Tunnel Jackie Carpal Tunnel Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 11,613 Louisville, Kentucky Is it twice as valuable as one week's worth of notice? That would depend on one's boss, I suppose. My point was that two weeks' notice is a shortening of two weeks' worth of notice. One week's worth, being singular, takes the single-placement apostrophe. Two, three, or ten weeks would take the plural placement. Perhaps my word 'phrase' was improper; possibly, 'meaning' would have been better: two weeks' notice means two weeks' worth of notice. Am I starting to be clear, yet? Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Week's worth #91894 01/15/03 05:29 PM Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 Faldage Carpal Tunnel Faldage Carpal Tunnel Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 Have you ever heard it as "two weeks' worth of notice"? Or does this qualify as what you'll find in etymologies from time to time when they have merely postulated the existence of a form, "unattested"? Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Week's worth #91895 01/15/03 06:43 PM Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 1,156 B Bean old hand Bean old hand B Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 1,156 I bet (as I said before) the original phrase is "a notice of two weeks" (not "two weeks' worth of notice"). It should be easy to check the labour laws of any province or state, looking for this phrase or maybe not this phrase but it should give a clue. However, I'm on my way home now, so it won't be me doing the looking. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Week's worth #91896 01/15/03 10:22 PM Joined: Jul 2000 Posts: 167 Australia J johnjohn OP member OP johnjohn member J Joined: Jul 2000 Posts: 167 Australia I must admit that when I posted I didn't even consider that the phrase should not take an apostrophe. Guess that's the beauty of this place. From "The Complete Plain Words" (1973)- <<<Whether one should use an apostrophe in such expressions as 'Ten years imprisonment' is a disputed and not very important point. [ha!] The answer seems to be that if "ten years" is regarded as a descriptive genitive...we must write "years'" ; if as an adjectival phrase there must be no apostrophe but the word must be hyphened [ - eh? you must mean hyphenated matey...] (see HYPHEN). In the singular "a year's imprisonment) "year's" can only be a descriptive genitive.>>> Fowler (1996) don't say nuffink on it...any others? And I still definitely won't see the movie... jj Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: apostrophic point 2 #91897 01/19/03 06:06 AM Joined: Jun 2002 Posts: 1,624 Utter Placebo, Planet Reebok Capfka Pooh-Bah Capfka Pooh-Bah Joined: Jun 2002 Posts: 1,624 Utter Placebo, Planet Reebok >>(A sort of example of pathetic fallacy. I am sick of the spam I've been getting recently about pathetic phallusy, but I won't enlarge on this at the present.) And, thankfully, you haven't gone on about it at length ... - Pfranz Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Page 2 of 3 1 2 3 Moderated by  Jackie  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. 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