You can't have too many apostrophe's

Paulfolbrecht,
OK. So you are obviously better educated then the rest of us', and you're pointing out the apostrophe abuse only show's that your self-important. Your like those hedge fund's who tryed to bring down Crysler - alway's concerned about the rules and not about whats really important in life. Its hardworking American's which determine how the language is used, not linguistic snob's like you!

Boy that hurt... :^)

And Paul, shouldn't that be "grocers' apostrophes"? :^) or worse "greengrocers apostrophe's"?

Paulfolbrecht, I am actually slightly pleased that we have yet to have someone posting who really means what I wrote. I too find it disappointing that standards of grammar usage are declining. What's worse for me, however, is that correct grammar is increasingly seen as irrelevant. Incorrect grammar on the part of people who are not native speakers is acceptable (at least I hope so - I can butcher French subjunctive with the best of them). Absolutely faulty grammar on the part of native speakers, who then dismiss the importance of being able to manipulate their own language correctly, is a black spot on American society (I think at this point it is beyond an issue of education, it is a societal problem that people simply do not care).

Mrtennis, Stating that someone's opinion is unimportant because it is an opinion is itself an opinion so I am not sure why you posted. It seems however to the road you have been going down recently. A post you made the other day said (and I paraphrase) "Don't ask others' opinions." If one ignores the fact that your thread history is full of questions to the readership about what they think, and supposes that the sentiment is put forth honestly, is the main reason you participate in the forum to discuss facts? Is the reason why you call yourself a audio equipment 'reviewer' so that you can hold forth on specs?

Commcat, I will disagree with you here. I find English to be an extremely nuanced language. It is precise where it needs to be, and vague when ambiguity is called for (oops! naughty me - ending a sentence with a preposition!). I have yet to study a language (and I've studied my share) which has as much flexibility and precision as English (if used correctly).

Dasashiznit Ellery911!

Rene, I have heard nothing but good things about that book. I am going to order it.

Commcat, I now see where you are coming from. In that context, I don't disagree. And in that situation, it is indeed the lack of appropriate emphasis on or access to education which is not disappointing, but shocking. My point was that there is another issue at large, which is that many of those who have had access to and 'gained' an education, ignore correct grammar afterwards because it is no longer cool to be well educated. In a large part of society, it is the mark of being an outsider rather than the opposite, and that is a crying shame. Perhaps the part you speak about and the part I was speaking about are linked and I did not draw the connection.

Rodman,
Nobody here but us 'pidgins'... :^)

Eldartford,
ABUSUSNONTOLLITUSUM

Albert, that reminds me of the premises created in the opening scenes of a great movie - Brazil.

Doug,
In MS Word, you wrote it backwards, and it looks like you used the greek alphabet to do so. I expect the Audiogon database did not recognize the input, so turned it into ASCII numbers with hexadecimal representation. BTW, you did not need to shout.
:^)

Weird. When it came out, it came out backwards, in caps (shouting), with an exclamation point at the end (beginning). Wonders never cease...

Commcat,
I am not of the "if-you-make-one-mistake-then-the-paper-gets-a-failing-mark" school, but I am also not of the school which says that it's OK for those postgrads and PhDs to make common mistakes again and again when they are teaching my children how to read and write. The fact that they got that far while not knowing how to write using the basic rules of grammar does not reflect well on the system which got them there, and just because they now have the 'qualification' does not excuse it. The fact that they care enough to correct themselves is good. It would be better if they were embarrassed about the mistake. Your comment on lack of reading comprehension ability is a perfect example of the problem. The only reason that occurs is that we as a society have allowed that to happen. In my preferred incarnation, those 'qualified' people with those weaknesses in their field would not have gotten qualified in the first place.

Should we revert to a standard of perfection in usage? I too think it is impractical to expect 100% take-up. However, to dismiss 'proper grammatical usage' as an appropriate target is a great mistake. I too believe the emphasis on perfect grammar and perfect punctuation is on the wane. That does not mean that I find that situation desirable, or laudable. On the contrary, I find that being accepting of a decline in standards is symptomatic of America's issues. We are gradually losing our ability to communicate difficult ideas well to each other, and because it takes effort and humility to bring ourselves back to that table, we are saying it is not important to be at that table. Instead, we spend our free time at the mall for our entertainment and watching Jon Stewart, Jim Cramer, and SNL for our news. Or is it the other way around...?