Apostrophe crimes
Re: Apostrophe crimes
In Streatham, on Telford Avenue, at ///atom.lifts.couches, on the road:
Yes, an apostrophe can indicate missing letters. And the word “Roundabout” has been abbreviated by the omission of four letters, all vowels, none of which are where the apostrophe is.
Yes, an apostrophe can indicate missing letters. And the word “Roundabout” has been abbreviated by the omission of four letters, all vowels, none of which are where the apostrophe is.
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- Dalva Golden White Colheita 1952
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- Location: Near Cambridge, UK
Re: Apostrophe crimes
That did, in fact, make me laugh out loud! For goodness' sake!jdaw1 wrote:In Streatham, on Telford Avenue, at ///atom.lifts.couches, on the road:
Yes, an apostrophe can indicate missing letters. And the word “Roundabout” has been abbreviated by the omission of four letters, all vowels, none of which are where the apostrophe is.
- Alex Bridgeman
- Fonseca 1966
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Re: Apostrophe crimes
Schl’by er’rr, surely?
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.
2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
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- Dalva Golden White Colheita 1952
- Posts: 3606
- Joined: 14:22 Wed 15 Dec 2010
- Location: Near Cambridge, UK
Re: Apostrophe crimes
Have you been drinking? And don't call me Shirley.
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- Warre’s Otima 10 year old Tawny
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Re: Apostrophe crimes
In Romania...
I've been told that the Romanian language doesn't even use a'postrophes.
I've been told that the Romanian language doesn't even use a'postrophes.
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- Warre’s Otima 20 year old Tawny
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Re: Apostrophe crimes
Portuguese doesn't use them either. Well, almost doesn't. There are some niche uses.
Re: Apostrophe crimes
Yes, but Portuguese makes up for its lack of apostrophes by having 12 (ish) accented vowels plus an accented consonant for good measure.
á, é, í, ó, ú, â, ê, ô, ã, õ, à, and rarely ò (though I haven't seen this one yet). And apparently the language used to also have è, ì, and ù.
The consonant is, of course, ç. My understanding is that ñ is only used in Spanish.
Glenn Elliott
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- Warre’s Otima 20 year old Tawny
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Re: Apostrophe crimes
You are correct on all counts. Impressive.Glenn E. wrote: ↑20:22 Mon 02 Dec 2024Yes, but Portuguese makes up for its lack of apostrophes by having 12 (ish) accented vowels plus an accented consonant for good measure.
á, é, í, ó, ú, â, ê, ô, ã, õ, à, and rarely ò (though I haven't seen this one yet). And apparently the language used to also have è, ì, and ù.
The consonant is, of course, ç. My understanding is that ñ is only used in Spanish.
Re: Apostrophe crimes
What's "fun" is that the only use I've seen (so far) for à is as an abreviation for... "a a". Yes, they shorten 2 x 'a' to just 'à', but only when the two letters are different words.
Glenn Elliott
- Alex Bridgeman
- Fonseca 1966
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Re: Apostrophe crimes
Perhaps a lot more when spoken than when written? Such as “….de ir”, which is only ever spoken as “…d’ir”. Caused me lots of confusion at first.
But no more confusion than the usual Portuguese practice of only saying half the syllables in a sentence. Or inventing syllables which aren’t in a sentence.
“O que estudas português?” is normally spoken as “Oo kek stoodas português?” Honestly! And people say English is a difficult language to master!!
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.
2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
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- Warre’s Otima 20 year old Tawny
- Posts: 727
- Joined: 13:22 Wed 17 Feb 2021
- Location: Douro Valley
Re: Apostrophe crimes
Yes, those were the niche uses that came to mind - the change from «de/do/da» to «d'». There are a few written ones - Borda d'Água is a well known publication in Portugal - but you're absolutely right that, were we to write as we speak, there would be thousands of examples.Alex Bridgeman wrote: ↑00:31 Wed 04 Dec 2024Perhaps a lot more when spoken than when written? Such as “….de ir”, which is only ever spoken as “…d’ir”. Caused me lots of confusion at first.
But no more confusion than the usual Portuguese practice of only saying half the syllables in a sentence. Or inventing syllables which aren’t in a sentence.
“O que estudas português?” is normally spoken as “Oo kek stoodas português?” Honestly! And people say English is a difficult language to master!!
I agree that the relative disconnect between the written and the spoken language is probably a nightmare to anyone trying to get at least a small grasp of the language
Re: Apostrophe crimes
Brazilian is much more... sensible? It doesn't just add 'sh' to the ends of words randomly, and leading/trailing vowels are usually still pronounced.Alex Bridgeman wrote: ↑00:31 Wed 04 Dec 2024 “O que estudas português?” is normally spoken as “Oo kek stoodas português?” Honestly! And people say English is a difficult language to master!!
Your example above would be "oh keh estoodas português" but... also wouldn't be said that way in the first place. That reads as "what you study Portuguese?" to me, with "tu" before "estudas" implied. If you want to ask someone if they study Portuguese, it would just be "você estuda Português" or "tu estudas Português".
Setúbal is "SCHTOOble" in Portuguese but "seTOOble" in Brazilian.
Glenn Elliott
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- Warre’s Otima 20 year old Tawny
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Re: Apostrophe crimes
This has now become the unofficial Portuguese language thread.