Apostrophe crimes

[DRT]

How long have you been sitting on that one?

Long enough to invite somebody else to post it (which would have been amusing), and be refused.

!

Not I, so probably Owen.

[djewesbury]

The tangled webs that JDAW weaves!

[djewesbury]

ok, a clue: you (almost certainly) all have an item in your position which provides the key to this puzzle.
Another clue this evening, if needed.

[jdaw1]

Is nobody going to pick Phil up on his confusion of position and possession? I'm marking essays right now and in no mood for leniency.

Yes.I am.

I would not usually comment on the omission of a space after a full stop, but in this context leniency seemed wrong.

[djewesbury]

Is nobody going to pick Phil up on his confusion of position and possession? I'm marking essays right now and in no mood for leniency.

Yes.I am.

I would not usually comment on the omission of a space after a full stop, but in this context leniency seemed wrong.

Quoting me, you would have seen that a space is included in what I typed. That BBphp does not allow it to be displayed is not my fault.

[jdaw1]

Quoting me, you would have seen that a space is included in what I typed. That BBphp does not allow it to be displayed is not my fault.

The space is missing when viewed from Firefox, from Chrome, from Safari, and from Opera. Which suffices.

[djewesbury]

Quoting me, you would have seen that a space is included in what I typed. That BBphp does not allow it to be displayed is not my fault.

The space is missing when viewed from Firefox, from Chrome, from Safari, and from Opera. Which suffices.

The space was typed. I plead technical victimisation. I have the full facts in my position.

[djewesbury]

Quoting me, you would have seen that a space is included in what I typed. That BBphp does not allow it to be displayed is not my fault.

The space is missing when viewed from Firefox, from Chrome, from Safari, and from Opera. Which suffices.

The space was typed. I plead technical victimisation. I have the full facts in my position.

I demonstrate.
Here is a pair of sentences with a space typed between the full stop and the start of the BBcode. Link.
Here is a pair of sentences with a space typed after the first BBcode tag, and before the word contained within the tags.Link.
The second space does not display.
An incorrect use of spaces within or without BBcode tags does not constitute an apostrophe crime. I require that the charge be withdrawn.

[djewesbury]

[jdaw1]

Yes.I am.

Yes. I am.

All I did was add a space.

(I agree that ‟wrote” is not subjective, but I know not how to change phpbb’s choice of verb.)

[djewesbury]

Yes.I am.

Yes. I am.

All I did was add a space.

(I agree that ‟wrote” is not subjective, but I know not how to change phpbb’s choice of verb.)

This is getting ridiculous. In your defence of your attack of my defence, you have now committed a solecism so vile that I am at a loss to know how to classify it. Fail. Resubmit next semester.

[jdaw1]

It might be that you attempted to add the space inside the link tags: such a space would indeed be trimmed. But that is because the space should have been added outside the link tags, and if it had, it would have worked.

Please test this hypothesis.

[djewesbury]

Quoting me, you would have seen that a space is included in what I typed. That BBphp does not allow it to be displayed is not my fault.

The space is missing when viewed from Firefox, from Chrome, from Safari, and from Opera. Which suffices.

The space was typed. I plead technical victimisation. I have the full facts in my position.

I demonstrate.
Here is a pair of sentences with a space typed between the full stop and the start of the BBcode. Link.
Here is a pair of sentences with a space typed after the first BBcode tag, and before the word contained within the tags.Link.
The second space does not display.
An incorrect use of spaces within or without BBcode tags does not constitute an apostrophe crime. I require that the charge be withdrawn.

[jdaw1]

I’m happy to amend the charge to say that you failed to understand the BBcode that you chose to use, and failed to check your work, thereby giving the impression of an error of a different type.

Would that suffice?

[djewesbury]

I’m happy to amend the charge to say that you failed to understand the BBcode that you chose to use, and failed to check your work, thereby giving the impression of an error of a different type.

Would that suffice?

[djewesbury]

If this thread becomes 'Coding Crimes' I think we might have a problem.

[jdaw1]

If this thread becomes 'Coding Crimes' I think we might have a problem.

In general, I agree. But you said

I'm marking essays right now and in no mood for leniency.

after which you should not expect leniency.

[djewesbury]

If this thread becomes 'Coding Crimes' I think we might have a problem.

In general, I agree. But you said

I'm marking essays right now and in no mood for leniency.

after which you should not expect leniency.

So these are the rules of the game? So be it. Be on guard sir. I am watching your every move.

[jdaw1]

I am watching your every move.

Mistakes happen. But those posting here to criticise somebody else’s mistake should be extra careful.

[jdaw1]

The question setter did not ask for an explanation.

[!]

The point about the question-setter is fair.

Hyphen, or no hyphen. At a minimum, be consistent. (I’m hoping the confession will lessen the sentence.)

[jdaw1]

the exponential growth of this thread.

Were we to plot the frequency of postings on this thread on a graph, we would see a logarithmic curve described. To me, that is 'exponential growth'.

Does Daniel know that logarithms are the opposite of exponentials?

Maybe, as a public health measure, that question should be deemed rhetorical.

[jdaw1]

But were we to look at the number of posts within fixed periods of time, we would see that the total yielded in each successive period of time was greater than the immediately preceding period. The number of posts multiplies like topsy. The thread is out of control. It has diverted us all from more interesting and important things.
And allowed dark forces to rise to power.

Mere growth, even growth that seems rapid, is not necessarily exponential. To be exponential, growth must be proportional to the current level, at least approximately.

Which is not happening.

[djewesbury]

But were we to look at the number of posts within fixed periods of time, we would see that the total yielded in each successive period of time was greater than the immediately preceding period. The number of posts multiplies like topsy. The thread is out of control. It has diverted us all from more interesting and important things.
And allowed dark forces to rise to power.

Mere growth, even growth that seems rapid, is not necessarily exponential. To be exponential, growth must be proportional to the current level, at least approximately.

Which is not happening.

Oh go away.
*stomps off to cellar muttering oaths*

[jdaw1]

When your students use technical words without understanding their meaning, what happens next?

Quite.

[djewesbury]

When your students use technical words without understanding their meaning, what happens next?

Quite.

When my students start using technical words, whether they understand them or not, I will pass out.

[DRT]

Oh go away.
*stomps off to cellar muttering oaths*

I did warn you.

[DRT]

I have sleuthed, sleuthed and sleuthed some more and can't find the answer.

[djewesbury]

I have sleuthed, sleuthed and sleuthed some more and can't find the answer.

Did you post this in the wrong thread?

[DRT]

Yes.

[LGTrotter]

Well that's really too bad. Somebody should start a thread where this sort of thing can be named and shamed.

[jdaw1]

Photographed in Portree, Skye, on Wednesday 4^th December 2013.

[SCP-DFF]

Gimme a break. That's ridiculous, Cheri.

[DRT]

Gimme a break. That's ridiculous, Cheri.

I disagree. I think JDAW has been very diligent.

[jdaw1]

Gimme a break. That's ridiculous, Cheri.

I disagree. I think JDAW has been very diligent.

Taking a husband’s side against the wife: danger danger bear.

[DRT]

Gimme a break. That's ridiculous, Cheri.

I disagree. I think JDAW has been very diligent.

Taking a husband’s side against the wife: danger danger bear.

T'wasn't me. Someone must have stolen my login details.

[LGTrotter]

Gimme a break. That's ridiculous, Cheri.

I disagree. I think JDAW has been very diligent.

I tried to warn you, a swot and a teacher's pet.

[SCP-DFF]

The problem is that Julian hasn't actually given me a good reason for why it's incorrect.

[jdaw1]

The problem is that Julian hasn't actually given me a good reason for why it's incorrect.

Compare and contrast:
• Fine ales from Isle of Skye
• Fine ales from ‘Isle of Skye’
What is the purpose of the quotation marks in the latter? I could have understood ‟Fine Isle-of-Skye ales”, as a compound adjective, but with the current arrangement of the words, the compounding is wrong.

[jdaw1]

Not an apostrophe crime, but offensive to those who see these things.

"We found that nearly half of the co-educational state-funded schools we looked are actually doing worse than average," explained Clare Thomson, curriculum and diversity manager at the Institute of Physics.

There are at least three things to notice, two of which amusingly clash with what the article is promoting.

[PhilW]

Not an apostrophe crime, but offensive to those who see these things.

"We found that nearly half of the co-educational state-funded schools we looked are actually doing worse than average," explained Clare Thomson, curriculum and diversity manager at the Institute of Physics.

There are at least three things to notice, two of which amusingly clash with what the article is promoting.

That really is an appalling use of statistics. Ignoring the metric itself for a moment, and assuming that the selection of schools is either random or all-encompassing, the the fact that 49% of schools perform at a level below the average is neither surprising nor noteworthy, but simply a feature of statistical spread, however wide or narrow. They then go on to say that everyone doing worse than the average is doing something wrong - which may or may not be the case; there is no reason why the borderline between right vs wrong behaviour should be at the average point. Later on, they mention that "some schools are bucking the trend"; well yes, someone will be at the top of any measurement. I probably haven't covered all your concerns, but there is lots to dislike in this article which while it may have a valid underlying point, contains so many layers of dumbing-down and misuse of statistics, and has almost no information within it which would support the fundamental claim.

[jdaw1]

"We found that nearly half of the co-educational state-funded schools we looked are actually doing worse than average,"

PhilW has nicely explained this failure to understand how distributions work.

explained Clare Thomson

So in an article about women not doing enough maths, in which the complainant doesn’t understand basic maths, is the complainant male or female? They want to show that, to paraphrase, women can do maths, but have produced a woman failing to do simple maths. Oh dear.

curriculum and diversity manager at the Institute of Physics.

They want to show that, to paraphrase, women can do maths. They could have chosen to quote a female particle physicist, a female cosmologist, or perhaps one of the female members or former members of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee. A woman who can do, and does, something numerate. There are many. No, that would have required thinking. Instead the complaint about ‟reinforcing gender stereotypes” is coming from a female ‟diversity manager”. Oh dear.

[djewesbury]

Has an email been sent already?

[jdaw1]

Has an email been sent already?

Not by me. The modern dogma does not allow critical comment on such matters, irrespective or the wisdom or folly of the criticism.

[djewesbury]

Has an email been sent already?

Not by me. The modern dogma does not allow critical comment on such matters, irrespective or the wisdom or folly of the criticism.

Oh dear I'd better stop correcting these essays then.

[jdaw1]

Oh dear I'd better stop correcting these essays then.

Academia should be about making plausible and interesting hypotheses, and testing them against the data. Except that, for Larry Summers, the hypothesis was contrary to the mandatory dogma, and he lost his job.

There is only one correct course.

If you deny the dogma, you lose your job. Therefore, if you look at the data and claim to believe the dogma, some people will think that the belief is driven by a desire not to lose the job. If you look at the data, there are two outcomes: lose job; or be thought a patsy. Hence it is important never to look at the data. Look away. Don’t read the books. Don’t read the papers. Look away. Then, if asked, one can say ‟I haven’t looked at the data.” That is the only job-preserving non-patsy thing course.

[djewesbury]

I want to know more about the job-preserving non-patsy thing course!

[PhilW]

I was to know more about the job-preserving non-patsy thing course!

I'm sure we could run one of those for £1000/head

[djewesbury]

I was to know more about the job-preserving non-patsy thing course!

I'm sure we could run one of those for £1000/head

Excellent. I'll get a PowerPoint together with some meaningless statistics.

[PhilW]

The problem is that Julian hasn't actually given me a good reason for why it's incorrect.

Compare and contrast:
• Fine ales from Isle of Skye
• Fine ales from ‘Isle of Skye’
What is the purpose of the quotation marks in the latter? I could have understood ‟Fine Isle-of-Skye ales”, as a compound adjective, but with the current arrangement of the words, the compounding is wrong.

I thought you were complaining about "Macnabs Inn" (vs "Macnab's Inn")... I assumed that from the "Isle of Skye" being in quotes meant that is was only partially, or not-really, from the Isle of Skye, e.g. because the pub was just off it.

[djewesbury]

The problem is that Julian hasn't actually given me a good reason for why it's incorrect.

Compare and contrast:
• Fine ales from Isle of Skye
• Fine ales from ‘Isle of Skye’
What is the purpose of the quotation marks in the latter? I could have understood ‟Fine Isle-of-Skye ales”, as a compound adjective, but with the current arrangement of the words, the compounding is wrong.

I thought you were complaining about "Macnabs Inn" (vs "Macnab's Inn")... I assumed that from the "Isle of Skye" being in quotes meant that is was only partially, or not-really, from the Isle of Skye, e.g. because the pub was just off it.

Me too.