DIY English

But they're both wrong. ;-)

In signwriting, it's sometimes argued that an apostrophe is used after an abbreviation when all uppercase font is being used. MOT is a recognised contraction, MOTS isn't and could be confused with something else. MOT'S does at least clarify things in that case. Normally however, abbreviations are in uppercase and the "s" in lowercase so there is no confusion. As in CDs, PCs etc..

Tim

If they care that much about confusion, write "MOT tests" (or "MOT Tests"). Otherwise my weight is firmly behind MOTs. And typos.

Following up to TheOldFellow

I think people generally know this but >>cant>theres>conventoin>grammer

Somewhat OT, but a plentiful source of spelling howlers and curious phrases are the used car adverts on Ebay.

Somewhat outdated curious phrases used only in used car adverts: It flew though the MOT nice little runner little beauty no rust honest car we have here here I have is

A few spellings from today: miss treated eney eles were ive weve (we have) Ring Mobil to bye pitchers (pictures)

Let he who is wiothout fault...

Roger R

Or should that be a spelling check/checker?

(Wouldn't a spellcheck be more useful to a sorcerer's apprentice or Harry Potter?)

So it does! I have a copy right here. I bow to your superior reference. Funny stuff, memory.

I hate to say it, but Mrs Firth is right too.

R.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember The Wanderer saying something like:

Ah, shure, sorr.

I should disbelieve my own ears, then?

Fairy snuff - too much driving in Germany. ;-)

You could try, but I don't think it has existed in that form since either the 60s or 70s!

Following up to Rod

only if you take everything literally, many many words evolve or abbreviate

I seem to remember British engineers refered to a "schedule of instructions". I'll have to dig out my history of Lyon's Teashops.

-- JGH

TGH explained :

I do that, a matter of brain working faster than fingers and finger not pushing the keys in the right order.

Another annoying one is 'ect' instead of 'etc' (et cetera). And of course there's 'asterix' instead of 'asterisk'.

Even more when they're spoken. eck-settera and asterix.

In message , Frank Erskine writes

does it Gaul you ?

Following up to Bob Eager

how would you say the name of the "Pentax *ist" (sic) I have one and don't know

No idea!

I heard about four different pronunciations of the drug 'doxazosin', and wondered which one was correct....turned out it was none of them. How do I know? I had dinner with one of the guys who named it!

You have to let us know!

I would guess dox-A-zo-sin (that is, with the azo bit as in azo dyes.

Why did Valium end up being universally pronounced like a valley? - Should have Vallium for that to be the case. Any votes for vay-lium?

What makes you think he was right?