Category: Grammar - Reading the Signs

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What is the plural of ‘Staff’?

7/3/2019

I also assumed that is was ‘Staff’.

If the staff of one office merged with the staff of another office, the combined were staff. There might be 99 staff working in a building. Marketing and sales staff might attend a conference. The constant being the word ‘staff’.

I never had the inclination to question this – until I was taken aback on St. Patrick’s Quay. I would definitely have written as ‘Health Services Staff Credit Union’ – it is not as if the nursing staff and the physio staff become ‘staffs’ when together, or is it.

Chambers Dictionary does have a plural of ‘Staffs’, as does Macmillan Dictionary. Merriman Webster does have ‘staffs’ as a plural for some uses but ‘staff’ as plural in sense of ‘three full-time staff’.

I still do not like the look or sound of ‘Health Services Staffs’. I cannot see myself using the plural form anytime soon.

Accepting with Age - maybe.....

23/12/2017

This was on the noticeboard of the city library a few weeks back.

I did wonder as to the survey…..

Whether one of the questions was how to spell ‘P-A-R-T-I-C-I-P-A-T-E’……

Whether one of the objectives was to measure tolerance for spelling and grammatical issues as one aged – may be there is hope for me yet

Going, Going, Gone

11/4/2017

I took this photograph at lunchtime today, 11th April.

I was somewhat puzzled at the message on what was obviously a vacated premises.

It appears that the ‘move’ has already started – but may not be finished with new premises.

Is ‘will re-open at new premises on 25th April’ more correct.

Does ‘We are moving’ not have a connotation that they will be remaining until that date, 25th April?

Maybe I need to learn all of the possible uses of the verb, ‘move’.

Maybe, just like ‘Hearing’, it is an advanced notice.

Or maybe I need to learn to ignore some signs…..

Paul’s Barber Shop

22/7/2016

Maybe I am not alone.

Paul’s Barber Shop is at Dillon’s Cross in Cork. The telephone number on the shopfront has only six digits – we have had seven digits for many years now.

This gives me to suspect that the branding on the shop window post-dates the shopfront.

I wonder if there is another northside pedant out there and if he who pointed out the lack of the apostrophe. I wonder if he mentioned it before or after a haircut…..

Specsavers – Should have gone to consistency class

27/6/2016

I spotted this sign recently on Cook Street.

I stopped and considered. I would have used ‘have moved’ as I had filed Specsavers as plural. Thinking about it, I assumed the word ‘Specsavers’ was being treated as a singular ending in ‘s’ – fair enough….. for a while.

I believe that being consistent is an admirable quality – I have mentioned this more than once hereabouts.

Seemingly, this does not apply to Specsavers.

The Specsavers website has many references to the singular – Specsavers was; Specsavers was thrilled. It also has a few to the plural – Specsavers Ireland are proud; Specsavers announced that they; and, at Specsavers we.

One webpage even combines both – “Specsavers Kilkenny is thrilled” and “Specsavers Kilkenny have always supported”.

Establishing if you are singular or plural does not appear to be one of the reasons you should have gone to Specsavers…

Ridiculous use of a Capital Letter

5/5/2016

Liverpool

Marketing people could well argue that there is no such thing as bad publicity and that it is ‘the message’ that is the most important thing to be communicated.

For T. K. Maxx, they achieved those objectives.

This pedant accepts that he is in a (very small) minority that is discouraged from shopping where the shop cannot be bothered with accuracy. I am most likely not their target audience…..

Sumbs, Roofs and Rooves

26/11/2015

A Story

I remember hearing a story, most likely untrue, very many years ago, when still in school. In this retelling, I’ll allow ‘Mick’ to be the character in chief.

It was the time of the school exams. The teacher had decided to do three tests one after the other this particular afternoon.

Mr. McCarthy told the pupils to take out three clear sheets of paper and on each write their name and the particular test. Mick O’Keeffe followed by Irish and English were quickly added to the first two pages, but then he stopped – unsure, thinking.

Mr McCarthy was writing the questions on the blackboard and Mick was no nearer being convinced.

He knew about the three ‘R’s – reading, riting and rithmetic. Something in the back of his mind told him that there was something about the spelling but he couldn’t be certain.

roof noun (roofs or common in spoken English, but non-standard in writing rooves)
Chambers Dictionary

Roofs vs. rooves
Roofs is the plural of roof in all varieties of English. Rooves is an old secondary form, and it still appears occasionally by analogy with other irregular plurals such as hooves, but it is not common enough to be considered standard.
Grammarist.com

Then Eureka, Mr McCarthy does not call it rithmetic in class. It is mathematics. Or is it matemathics. He was sure there was a ‘h’ in the word but as to where it went, he was no nearer getting something written on the page.

Then he remembered first class when big words like rithmetic, matemathics or even mathematics were not used.

Relief at last. Shorter words are much easier.

The words written on that blank page were:

Mick O’Keeffe – SUMBS

I spotted this van on Patrick’s Street yesterday and it immediately reminded me of the story of Mick O’Keeffe. I imagined the thought process when considering what to write on the van.

There was something at the back of his mind that when a word ended in ‘f’, the plural changed the ‘f’ to ‘ve’. He remembered the example of ‘hoof’ and ‘hooves’.

On that basis, it should be ‘Rooves’ but that didn’t look exactly perfect. Neither did ‘roofs’ because the ‘v’ was too prominent in the brain.

Just like Mick, Eureka struck with the idea to introduce an apostrophe – sure, no one will know the difference.

Wrong – there is at least one looking for flying apostrophes!!

Boycott Big

20/5/2015

A while back, I commented on the posters by the campaign against water charges.

It looks like that the Irish translation has changed.

I understood that the adjective was after the noun in Irish – so Boycott Mór may be more appropriate from my knowledge.

Nither ‘Boycott’ ,‘oll-‘ or ‘sluaite’ made it onto this poster either.

Mea Culpa

30/4/2015

I need to make an apology.

Over Easter, we visited friends in Co. Clare. This notice was on the door of one of the bedrooms and led to a bit of discussion as to the ‘s’ after the apology.

As I mentioned before, I am in the camp that believed there should be no ‘s’ after the apostrophe. However, the Oxford Dictionaries are in the other camp.

Forever learning…..

Walk In To The Dictionary

6/4/2015

Walk-ins Welcome

Every year or so, I hear or read about new works being added to the Oxford English Dictionary – many of them are regularly from social media; texting ; or, new computer terminology.

If you want to be distracted on recent additions to the dictionary, you could have a look here or here.

The Chambers Dictionary does not have any entry for ‘walk-in’. Collins Dictionary does list it, but as an adjective.

The Beauty Spot may have deliberately started a campaign to get ‘walk-in’ into the dictionary as a noun based upon regularly use – but then again, maybe not…….

The Flying Apostrophe

31/3/2015

French Bread At It Is Best

I have done quite a few blog posts regarding missing apostrophes.

For a change, I found an apostrophe where it had no right to be….

Reducing To Nonsense – Chapter 2

23/3/2015

Last Saturday, we were out in Ennis with someone who trained as a nurse in Cork. The power of a good slogan was brought home once again when, thirty years later, she was able to remember the comment regularly used with large patients – ‘Don’t Risk It – Let O’Brien Shift It’.

I spotted this van a few weeks back. If I wait any longer, I might come up with even more suggestions for the missing words.

Free Van To Move Into…..

Free Van to Move Around In….

Free Van to Move Your Stuff Into Our Storage…..

Free Van To Move The Earth For You In……

Or whatever you are having yourself

Reducing To Nonsense – Chapter 1

22/3/2015

Of late, I have noticed quite a few advertising signs where, in an effort to get the message across in the fewest words possible, the words, if read on their own, are at least puzzling, and in some cases are completely baffling.

If this is not of interest, as they say reading the sports results, ‘look away now’ – as there are going to be a few more over the coming week.

The ’months in each season’ is often a subject for debate on a high stool. I have always been in the Gaelic Calendar in starting Spring on February 1st. Russians continue winter until the end of February.

Edinburgh Woollen Mills shop in Merchants’ Quay Shopping Centre obviously has its own calendar – their new season appears to be limited to their shop only.

To think that the word ‘stock’ would have only added five letters but quite a bit of sense…..

Lax Security

17/3/2015

I am not sure they have the security solution to ensure that the apostrophe does not go missing so that TODAY’S busy blogger does not need to rant again.

Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em

15/3/2015

Ten days ago, I was convinced that Eason’s had erred in their signage in their shop window.

Every day since, I have spotted other shops who agree with Easons.

I had understood that today was a day for all mothers and so assumed it was “Mothers’ Day” – but seemingly not.

Wikipedia advises that it was intended the day should be for each family to celebrate its own mother and so ‘Mother’s Day’.

But it still appears grammatically incorrect to me.

‘In 1912, Anna Jarvis trademarked the phrases "second Sunday in May" and "Mother's Day", and created the Mother's Day International Association. She specifically noted that "Mother's" should "be a singular possessive, for each family to honor its mother, not a plural possessive commemorating all mothers of the world."’

Wikipedia

I see that Hallmark still continue to take issue with the use of an apostrophe. Castle Jewellers has a similar condition.