The Great Crusade, 66 years on.

[Zaphod]

Like I said before...I get enough teenage wisdom on this forum to last a lifetime.

Were we really THAT stupid at one time?

Makes me wonder what we'll think of ourselves now when we're in our 80's.

 

[scoutpilot]

Touche. You have sufficiently embarrassed me.

But alas, your post is not free of a grammatical problem. One does not make a plural by using an apostrophe. Thus, your statement of two "e's" is incorrect.

You can join Zaphod and I in remedial English.

Actually, in the manner I employed it, that is correct. And you meant "Join Zaphod and me" not "Zaphod and I."

The only time when adding apostrophe s to make something plural is when you are working with numbers written as numbers or with words, letters, numbers, or symbols as themselves. An example of working with numbers written as numbers would be if you were referring to the 1990's. In most standard writing this would be written out in words: the nineteen nineties. You use the apostrophe to separate the number from the letter to show the letter is not part of the number.

Regardless, I would think a lawyer wouldn't have to resort to pointing out grammatical errors (real or perceived) in posts, but rather would be able to mount a more substantive argument. You could have at least cited Rubber v. Glue

 

[mom3boys]

Touche. You have sufficiently embarrassed me.

But alas, your post is not free of a grammatical problem. One does not make a plural by using an apostrophe. Thus, your statement of two "e's" is incorrect.

You can join Zaphod and I in remedial English.

Well boys, it should read, "You can join Zaphod and me in remedial English."

AND...here's the rule for apostrophes with letters and numbers:

Rule 11. The plurals for capital letters and numbers used as nouns are not formed with apostrophes.
Examples:






She consulted with three M.D.s.
BUT
She went to three M.D.s' offices.
The apostrophe is needed here to show plural possessive.
She learned her ABCs.
the 1990s not the 1990's
the '90s or the mid-'70s not the '90's or the mid-'70's
She learned her times tables for 6s and 7s.

Exception: Use apostrophes with capital letters and numbers when the meaning would be unclear otherwise.
Examples: Please dot your i's.
You don't mean is.
Ted couldn't distinguish between his 6's and 0's.
You need to use the apostrophe to indicate the plural of zero or it will look like the word Os. To be consistent within a sentence, you would also use the apostrophe to indicate the plural of 6's.

 

[bruno]

ok folks- although I have taken sides in this already and will do so again- I will suggest that everyone take a deep breath here. I'm certain that most of the posters here are fairly educated people who not only know how to spell but have some thought behind their opinions. Try to keep the discussion within the bounds of reasonable and nonpersonal.
Having said that- I believe that the original comment which spurred all this was about as uninformed and foolish as any I can imagine and totally inappropriate to the context. To reiterate- the OP commented that Eisenhower's speech given to the soldiers hitting the beach on D-Day left him feeling cynical- apparently because it was given from the vantage point of a country that had social ills of its own. It is a poor historian who applies a current context to the past and judges the options and decisions made in a framework not available to those at the time. Similarly- you have to possess virtually no relational scale to look at the effort to eradicate the Nazi domination of Europe and see relatively little difference between them and the admittedly less than perfect American and Western societies of 1944. There literally is no comparison between a society that thought nothing of not only enslaving but industrially exterminating entire races of people and the United States of 1944.
Eisenhower was reassuring the 100,000 plus soldiers, who were about to set forth on what for many was their last day, that their cause was right. You have to be a revisionist of the highest order to argue that the cause was anything other- so for a teenager or anyone else to submit that Eisenhower could or should have said any other is ludicrous.

 

[sprog]

Actually, in the manner I employed it, that is correct.



Regardless, I would think a lawyer wouldn't have to resort to pointing out grammatical errors (real or perceived) in posts, but rather would be able to mount a more substantive argument. You could have at least cited Rubber v. Glue

Hmmm. Had to do some research there (as I suspect you did). In using the lower case "e," it turns out you are correct. This is not the case with upper case letters. You are promoted from remedial English.

Regarding my substantive arguments, you could check my earlier posts. I was just being petulant because it seemed in tune with some of the responses on here. Just "keeping up with the traffic," as my dad would say to cops who pulled him over.

 

[Zaphod]

You can wonder and speak for yourself....as for me I always had an old "Gunny" who constantly reminded me that I knew absolutely nothing worthwhile from 17-22....maybe even longer

I hear ya.

When I got my Enlisted Submarine qualification, a crusty old Senior Chief said to me, "Sonny, that pin doesn't mean you know it all. It simply means that we consider you safe enough to begin learning for real."

Never forgot that. Wise old Senior.

 

[Zaphod]

Eisenhower was reassuring the 100,000 plus soldiers, who were about to set forth on what for many was their last day, that their cause was right. You have to be a revisionist of the highest order to argue that the cause was anything other- so for a teenager or anyone else to submit that Eisenhower could or should have said any other is ludicrous.

You know, all through four years at USNA and the five years afterwards, never once do I recall being placed in a situation (even an imaginary one) where my order alone would fling almost a million other human beings (in various roles) into a single action where thousands (at least) and perhaps tens of thousands of those lives would end within 24 hours.

...and people say Generals and Admirals have it easy.

I know if I'd been Ike, I would have been a nervous wreck. The fact that he carried TWO statements around with him that day, one in case we won, and one in case we lost, and the content of the latter, speaks volumes of the man's character.

 

[sprog]

Well boys, it should read, "You can join Zaphod and me in remedial English."

AND...here's the rule for apostrophes with letters and numbers:

Rule 11. The plurals for capital letters and numbers used as nouns are not formed with apostrophes.
Examples:






She consulted with three M.D.s.
BUT
She went to three M.D.s' offices.
The apostrophe is needed here to show plural possessive.
She learned her ABCs.
the 1990s not the 1990's
the '90s or the mid-'70s not the '90's or the mid-'70's
She learned her times tables for 6s and 7s.

Exception: Use apostrophes with capital letters and numbers when the meaning would be unclear otherwise.
Examples: Please dot your i's.
You don't mean is.
Ted couldn't distinguish between his 6's and 0's.
You need to use the apostrophe to indicate the plural of zero or it will look like the word Os. To be consistent within a sentence, you would also use the apostrophe to indicate the plural of 6's.

Fair enough. I suppose I will remain in remedial English for a longer period than Zaphod. I was incorrect. I suffer from "me" phobia as do quite a few people. Regarding the "e's," I made my mea culpa to scoutpilot. He is the master of grammar for this thread. I shall live to fight another day, mind you.

I can take it as well as dish it. I will always admit when I'm wrong. On this thread, I let my inner a-hole come out, and I probably shouldn't have. Now, I'm the one with egg on the face. The grammar issue is always a Pandora's Box on the threads. I regret opening it.

 

[sprog]

I know if I'd been Ike, I would have been a nervous wreck. The fact that he carried TWO statements around with him that day, one in case we won, and one in case we lost, and the content of the latter, speaks volumes of the man's character.

Certainly explains why he was a chain smoker.

 

[vampsoul]

The current treatment of US history is like watching the news. Emphasis on the 3 people who did not make it home safely from work, ignore the million who did. Why? There's no scandal in the good stuff! Sickening.