In article . com,
() wrote:

Reminds me of the old college joke, about the fresh-faced
undergraduate walking along the Cam, looking for the Queens' College
boathouse, and coming across a group of beefy looking oarsmen, saying,
"are you lot Queens' ", before being upended into the river.

Well, it made me laugh when I first heard it!

Well, in my day we wondered by that was the only college (before
co-residence) with double sets which mostly had shared bedrooms.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Tristán White wrote:
The roundels are wrong.

His name is John, not Johns.

Therefore, the apostrophe HAS to go between the n and the s. Any other
signage is the product of illiterate designers.

JOHN'S

MARTIN'S




In the case of plural nouns, the apostrophe always goes afterwards. So

SPANIARDS' INN
if it refers to more than one Spaniard, or else

SPANIARD'S INN


Where there is some discussion is if the given name already ends with S.

Eg JAMES'S PALACE
or JAMES' PALACE

But never JAMES PALACE



The official line is, certainly as far as the University of London is
concerned where I did my studies and I am a sessional lecturer:

If it's Greek, it's always S'

If it's not, it's up to the individual as long as he or she is
consistent throughout.

Therefore, always Achilles' heel, Eros' statue, Nikolaidis' penalty
shot, Stavros' kebab house, Bacchus' wine, Androcles' lion, but if it's
not Greek, you can say James's Square or James' Square as long as it's
consistent throughout.

Tristán White wrote:
The roundels are wrong.

His name is John, not Johns.

Therefore, the apostrophe HAS to go between the n and the s. Any other
signage is the product of illiterate designers.

JOHN'S

MARTIN'S




In the case of plural nouns, the apostrophe always goes afterwards. So

SPANIARDS' INN
if it refers to more than one Spaniard, or else

SPANIARD'S INN


Where there is some discussion is if the given name already ends with S.

Eg JAMES'S PALACE
or JAMES' PALACE

But never JAMES PALACE



The official line is, certainly as far as the University of London is
concerned where I did my studies and I am a sessional lecturer:

If it's Greek, it's always S'

If it's not, it's up to the individual as long as he or she is
consistent throughout.

Therefore, always Achilles' heel, Eros' statue, Nikolaidis' penalty
shot, Stavros' kebab house, Bacchus' wine, Androcles' lion, but if it's
not Greek, you can say James's Square or James' Square as long as it's
consistent throughout.

Good post, but, I believe the normal English grammar rules for
apostrophes are generally dropped on street name signs. Therefore if a
subway station is named after a street it may be appropriate for its
name to be spelt the same way.

PedantGrecian is generally a more pleasing way to describe things
appertaining to the country Greece, than Greek./pedant

Adrian.

wrote in message
ps.com...


PedantGrecian is generally a more pleasing way to describe things
appertaining to the country Greece, than Greek./pedant

Adrian.

Whilst an urn may be Grecian, the language is Greek.

Jim Hawkins

wrote:
Tristán White wrote:

If it's Greek, it's always S'

If it's not, it's up to the individual as long as he or she is
consistent throughout.

Therefore, always Achilles' heel, Eros' statue, Nikolaidis' penalty
shot, Stavros' kebab house, Bacchus' wine, Androcles' lion, but if it's
not Greek, you can say James's Square or James' Square as long as it's
consistent throughout.

Whilst agreeing with almost everyting you have written, your final
paragraph is somewhat contentious. It would imply that Jesus was Greek!

I am always consistent in omitting the final "s", and as a rule that
cannot be faulted.

Marc.

We take out English name Jesus (I assume you refer to Jesus of
Nazareth) from his name in the Koine Grecian dialect. The Hebrew
(Y'shua) translates into Joshua.

Adrian.

Jim Hawkins wrote:
wrote in message
ps.com...


PedantGrecian is generally a more pleasing way to describe things
appertaining to the country Greece, than Greek./pedant

Adrian.

Whilst an urn may be Grecian, the language is Greek.

Jim Hawkins

And, unfortunately in street venacular, Greek has come to mean buggery.
Therefore it is more pleasing, to my ears, to hear that "The
Watercress Line has a Grecian locomative" (a locomative imported from
Greece), than "The Watercress Line has a Greek locomative" (a buggered
locomotive!)

Adrian.

On Mon, 26 Jun 2006 wrote:

the normal English grammar rules for
apostrophes are generally dropped on street name signs

Why?
--
Thoss

wrote:
Jim Hawkins wrote:
wrote in message
ps.com...


PedantGrecian is generally a more pleasing way to describe things
appertaining to the country Greece, than Greek./pedant

Adrian.

Whilst an urn may be Grecian, the language is Greek.

Jim Hawkins

And, unfortunately in street venacular, Greek has come to mean buggery.
Therefore it is more pleasing, to my ears, to hear that "The
Watercress Line has a Grecian locomative" (a locomative imported from
Greece), than "The Watercress Line has a Greek locomative" (a buggered
locomotive!)

Adrian.

So, Adrian, a locomative becomes a locomotive only when buggered?

Personally speaking I will be keeping my own private parts well away
from the firebox!

Marc.

Jim Hawkins wrote:
wrote in message
ps.com...


PedantGrecian is generally a more pleasing way to describe things
appertaining to the country Greece, than Greek./pedant

Adrian.

Whilst an urn may be Grecian, the language is Greek.

Jim Hawkins


Mou ine Ellinika

--
You can't fool me: there ain't no Sanity Clause - Chico Marx

www.geocities.com/Athens/Agora/1955

wrote:
Tristán White wrote:

The roundels are wrong.

His name is John, not Johns.

Therefore, the apostrophe HAS to go between the n and the s. Any other
signage is the product of illiterate designers.

JOHN'S

MARTIN'S




In the case of plural nouns, the apostrophe always goes afterwards. So

SPANIARDS' INN
if it refers to more than one Spaniard, or else

SPANIARD'S INN


Where there is some discussion is if the given name already ends with S.

Eg JAMES'S PALACE
or JAMES' PALACE

But never JAMES PALACE

The official line is, certainly as far as the University of London is
concerned where I did my studies and I am a sessional lecturer:

If it's Greek, it's always S'

If it's not, it's up to the individual as long as he or she is
consistent throughout.

Therefore, always Achilles' heel, Eros' statue, Nikolaidis' penalty
shot, Stavros' kebab house, Bacchus' wine, Androcles' lion, but if it's
not Greek, you can say James's Square or James' Square as long as it's
consistent throughout.


Good post, but, I believe the normal English grammar rules for
apostrophes are generally dropped on street name signs. Therefore if a
subway station is named after a street it may be appropriate for its
name to be spelt the same way.

PedantGrecian is generally a more pleasing way to describe things
appertaining to the country Greece, than Greek./pedant

Adrian.


WRONG !!!

"Johns" is a perfectly good name. A little rare, but not as much as you
think. I know two men with first names of "Johns" not "John" not
"John's" and then there is Johns Hopkins Universty - JOHNS.