Pity this person wasn't one

[vilakins]

I went to look at the national SF and Fantasy convention's site, only to find this in the first paragraph:

With a heavy emphasis on Steam Punk and Cosplay, the Convention never the less caiter's for the professional writers of Science Fiction.

Dude.

And I'll now vent about the highly paid new marketing person at work who puts apostrophes in all her plurals. All of them. So far I'm biting my tongue but I'm going to have to tell her at some point that I'll have to proof-read anything she wants to send outside the office. I'm just not sure how to go about that.

At least she's not doing it to verbs - so far.

Comments

[kerravonsen]

I'm going to have to tell her at some point that I'll have to proof-read anything she wants to send outside the office.

Oh dear! My sympathies.

[vilakins]

And of course she's a high-flyer, not like pedestrian me. Bitter? Yep.

[kerravonsen]

Yes, but would you really want to be as vapid as she is?

[gwendraith]

Oh dear, that would annoy me. I could understand doing one in error but all the time?

[vilakins]

Well, OK, maybe 80 or 90% of the time? Her emails cause almost physical pain.

[mab_browne]

Oops about that booboo on the con site. Of course I had to go look and at least 'catering' is now right.

As a previous old timer on the local con scene I'm slightly raising my eyebrows at the emphasis on the catering to the pro writers - it sounds a bit more like a networking scenario than a fan con. Nothing wrong with that of course, but it's change from what I remember in the Good Old Days, and we all know how people feel about change....

[vilakins]

Really? Someone corrected it? I doubt anyone connected reads this but good for whoever said something.

I've never been to a con here (in fact only one in England, ever) and was wondering whether it would be fun. I was rather put off by the description - plus the addition of "horror" which I loathe.

[mab_browne]

We're tempted, mainly because we have two Gail Carriger readers (spouse and daughter) in the house. We'll have to make our minds up fairly fast though.

[vilakins]

[looks up Gail Carriger and adds to reading list] Thanks!

[kerravonsen]

The most fun part of a con tends to be catching up with friends... which means if I were you, I'd try to find out if anyone you know is planning to attend.

[vilakins]

I agree. I know one person here who might be going and another online (see above) but I'm still not sure. It could be a nightmare for an introvert.

The con in England was great because I met a lot of online friends and it was specifically B7 so I had that in common with everyone there.

[kerravonsen]

It seems very unlikely to me that a convention would be a nightmare to an introvert. It might be boring, but nobody is going to stop you from sitting at the back and being quiet and just absorbing what is going on. The only thing that's likely to be difficult in that regard is finding a quiet spot to unwind. That depends a great deal on the design of the convention hotel; some hotels do have nice quiet spots where you can sit, others don't. That's one reason why I tend to book into the convention hotel even if the convention is in the same city as I live - it means I have a spot to collapse when I feel exhausted.

Is there any way you can find out what is likely to be on the programme?

[thisbluespirit]

*head!desks*

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

The B7 pro novel I'm reading at the moment isn't as appalling but I'm keeping a list. Doesn't Big Finish provide editing?

[thisbluespirit]

I haven't read a BF book in years, and those were only the short stories, but I know Mad Norwegian's DW NF used to be terrible for errors & things that didn't quite make sense. I used to have a magazine that was pretty awful for it, too. Proof reading is difficult?? I dunno. :lol:

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

To make two mistakes in one word is quite impressive, in a depressing sort of way. I suppose we should be thankful that it didn't say "writer's".

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

The new marketing person would. She's already perpetrated "other's".

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Over here they are known as "greengrocers' apostrophes", as greengrocers' signs are common places to find them. If you want to confuse her, you could try asking her if either of her parents is a greengrocer.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

We call them grocers' apostrophes as they're usually used for things ending in vowels e.g. tomato's, potato's, ciabatta's etc. I can understand why some people balk at putting an S after non-English words like that, but I can't use the term for what Marketing Person does as she does it for all sorts of plain English nouns. Aaaugh.

[vjezkova.livejournal.com]

It took some time to understand the word. I have never been perfect but I hope I would never make the mistakes - at least not in an official text - because I would ask someone to help me with English. But I know lots of cases in Czech too...

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Exactly! I really don't understand how some people don't realise they need help or don't think proof-reading is a good idea.

So there's another language with illogical spelling that has to be learned as an art?

[vjezkova.livejournal.com]

Yes. Czech language is really very difficult because it is flexible and the spelling has lots of rules. There are problems with writing ´i ´ or ´y ´ : you can write: bílý, býlí, dobýt, dobít, běhali, běhaly, běhala , běhalo, běhal - and lots lots of exmples both from morphology, syntax etc. I admire all the foreigners who were able to learn Czech!!!

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

Wow. That's really impressive. Three entirely different mistakes in a row. I especially like the placement directly before 'professional writers', who probably see that page and shake their heads.

The marketing person problem ---EEEE! Maybe there's a diplomatic way of offering to proof-read, but without knowing the person I can't be sure it wouldn't turn into a major upsetment. Good luck!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I wonder how many authors already booked thought, "What the hell am I getting myself into?"

I am going to speak to the GM. The marketing person will probably just see it as another way she can throw her weight around but in this case I'll be pleased to fix her mistakes.

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

I did a bit of random googling and one of the first hits was for a professional marketing ad with misused apostrophes! You might actually need grammar websites to prove that she's wrong.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I already did when she said I didn't need a hyphen in a compound adjective. Not that she used the term; she wouldn't know it.

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

Yep, something like this. http://www.grammar.com/compound-adjectives-a-long-list/

At least the compound adjective hyphenation is a BIT complex, with some exceptions.

But adding apostrophes to indicate plural is very rare. Umm... things like 'I have to count all the letter i's in this page.'

eek. 1:36 a.m. I need to go sleep. :^)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Yes, some people use one in CD's, ATM's, and 1940's, but I never do. I think that one counts as a style choice, but I admit I'd have to use an apostrophe in your example. I could get away without for consonants like Ps and Qs though. :-)