R2OK!

John W · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 3367 Location: Warwickshire, UK

Don't worry, at the end of the report it says 'Existing street names are not affected by the policy'

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/councils-to-abolish-apostrophes-on-new-street-signs---because-they-are--potentially-confusing--135239654.html#cNzyHux
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John W

Toggy · Joined: 18 Aug 2008 Posts: 1239

I love the 'Cambridge - One of Britain's most famous seats of learning' quote. Believe me this place has more than it's fair share of thick & stupid people.

Colin · Joined: 26 Sep 2013 Posts: 916

This is a stupid policy, in my opinion.

And on the subject of apostrophes...

Toggy · Joined: 18 Aug 2008 Posts: 1239

Yes.

ruddlescat · Joined: 16 Sep 2010 Posts: 18010 Location: Near Chester

A completely ridiculous and stupid idea and yet another sign of our present sick and rapidly decaying society

Rather than destroying our historic language simply to accommodate the needs of a minority of stupid/lazy people we should be making English Grammar the foundation of learning in all our schools and this process should begin on a limited basis as early as primary school so that everyone will be able to handle such 'complicated' concepts as the apostrophe

Even better let's bring back Latin in schools in order that children today have a better knowledge of cases, verbs, tenses et cetera not to mention the derivation of words which in itself will help them to write and speak English properly Smile

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John W · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 3367 Location: Warwickshire, UK

Yeah, good rant Rudds! Razz

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John W

ruddlescat · Joined: 16 Sep 2010 Posts: 18010 Location: Near Chester

Not a rant John - just sensible basic ideas which clearly don't appeal to the dogooders who seem to run our society these days Rolling Eyes

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Colin · Joined: 26 Sep 2013 Posts: 916

I never had to learn Latin at school (my cousin did at a fee-paying boarding school and he hated every minute of it) but it didn't prevent me from learning basic grammar.

My 12-year-old grandson is in his first year at a very good local state secondary school. Since he's been there his grammar, punctuation, etc., has improved immensely and I'm really impressed with the quality of his written English. I don't think that the learning of one language requires the learning of another, near-extinct, language - it just needs good, inspirational teachers. The big problem right now is the constant meddling by our so-called political leaders (a certain clueless idiot called Michael Gove comes to mind here) in the process of education when in fact the professionals should just be left to do what they do best.

After all, the correct usage of apostrophes isn't exactly rocket science!

ruddlescat · Joined: 16 Sep 2010 Posts: 18010 Location: Near Chester

Whilst certainly the learning of one language doesn't necessarily require the learning of another - as a large part of the English language in common with several other European languages is derived from Latin then it's certainly not rocket science to work out that having knowledge of the latter is more than likely to increase one's understanding of the former

The learning of Latin is also beneficial in many other ways - for example because it is a language which employs logic and precision many students take the subject in conjunction with things like Applied Mathematics and other science areas

I myself also found Ancient Greek of great benefit which I studied at A Level although perhaps that might be a step too far for most students today

My point is that the present debate over the apostrophe is simply a very small example of the alarming deterioration in grammatical standards both in our schools and in the country generally which is not to say that all students fail to grasp the concepts of proper grammar and it's good to note that your grandson is clearly fortunate enough to attend a decent state school Colin where the teaching staff must obviously pay heed to the importance of this area Smile

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