Deliberate mistakes

Exactly! But Martin seems to have confused the plurality of the arbors with a plurality of the Mike Checkleys in possession of them.

Apostrophe is never used to indicate plurality. Only to indicate possession or abbreviation (eg it's). So no deliberate error there. Unless of course you are a professional signwriter. Then, the rule is to sprinkle apostrophe's (sic) liberally at random over each job at completion. Apparently there is a worldwide surplus of apostrophe's and the signwriting trade has been contracted to get rid of them before they take over the world.

BTW. what is the device in the photo, resting in the right-hand end of the chip tray? The one having three gears mounted on some ironmongery?

Back to the OP and deliberate mistakes, obviously the latheist should be wearing bicycle clips on his trouser legs to prevent them being caught in the whirling flywheel and thus drawn down around his ankles before he disappears feet-first into the working parts of the drive line.

Let's not be too adamant:

The Firm's accounts .... (singular Firm)

The Firms' accounts ..... (plural Firm)

The plurality or otherwise of the Firm is indicated by the position of the apostrophe.

.... or, if you prefer to stay more on-topic:

Model Engineer's Workshop ....

Model Engineers' Workshop ....

What has happened here??????

Michael, I just get a redirection notice if I click your link.

For the benifit of those too tight to buy the mag or too stuck in their chair to make a trip to WHsmiths to give it a good thumbing or just too lazy to use google here is the cover page..

If this photo was taken at a club gala as suggested in the description then the mistake is clearly Mike Smith's (the lathe operator) who forgot it was a black tie event

Edited By JasonB on 14/05/2016 07:29:08

Edited By JasonB on 14/05/2016 07:32:52

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That's odd, Jason ... I get two buttons

|Visit Page| and |View Image|

... The second of which leads here

Must be a feature of the browser

MichaelG.

Michael, I also get two options, first takes me to the homepage, second back to your post. The link you just posted works OK though. Just tried it on Chrome rather than IE and the first link is OK.

Edited By JasonB on 14/05/2016 08:12:55

Are they 'arbors' or 'arbours'?

(Still waiting for my ship to come in).

As for anvils, this was once a popular sport in the boondocks of the good 'ol U.S of A. **LINK**

Looks like fun!

* Danny M *

I think you mean the U'SA

Neil

As it's clearly "silly Saturday" ...

I must just mention that ol' [and not 'ol] is the abbreviation for old.

MichaelG.

L'ol

* Danny M *

But ol' is still three characters so how is it an abbreviation?

Ian P

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The apostrophe takes up less physical space than the letter d

... and [being silent] it is quicker to say out loud.

MichaelG.

Why am I even reading the posts  here?

No! I don't (singular?) Either.........

I must have been off school on apostrophe day, maybe my dad took me on holiday.

.

Now there's an interesting 'Tea Room' digression for those bored of apostrophes ... The rules dictate regular attendance at school ... Not 'frequent', and not 'high proportion' but regular.

To me, this means that the recent court decisions were simply wrong.

Serious, or flippant, comments invited.

MichaelG.

Does regular attendance at school mean once a week/month, or do they really mean everyday.

Ian S C

Ah, interesting point. But the position of the apostrophe is not the apostrophe. The apostrophe is denoting possession, not plurality. Plurality is indicated by the letter s. Position of the letter s in relation to the apostrophe is what makes the difference between firm's and firms'.

Like most things in English though the rules are never consistent, except when they are. Thus we get the single Firm's accounts and the plural firms' accounts, but the singular Jesus's accounts and the city of Cairns's accounts. But verbally both of the latter are oft pronounced as if the second s did not exist. Gotta love the English language.

And what about the Court of St James's? Seems like a double possessive with both "of" and 's. Should it not then be "a hair of the dog's" rather than "a hair of the dog" that one sips on certain Sunday morns?

Well, how often does one have to go to the local pub to be "a regular"? Daily? Weekly? Frequently?

Let the grammar wars commence!

Michael W