What is all the fuss about? Surely it is obvious where it should go!

National Single's Day: The day that would belong to one 'single'. Incorrect.
National Singles' Day: Day belonging to or dedicated to a collective plural group of singles. Correct, but slightly messy.
National Singles Day: Not referring to the day as belonging to the singles, but just stating that the day is National singles day. Also correct, and less messy.

The first one is plain wrong, and either of the second two are acceptable, depending on which one you want. How did it take , with the help of a library and a national newspaper, a group of supposedly intelligent people three and a half hours to work out what I could tell instantly? Perhaps if they weren't too busy shooting each other down and bickering about it, they could have approached it logically and done it in almost no time at all. These are meant to be the best businesspeople in the country that auditioned, are they not?
Edit: Looks like I was beaten to it whilst making the thread. Oh well.
Last edited by Analysethis : 30-04-2008 at 22:54

So you object to Mother's day then as the property of one mother?

Which one did they eventually use?

I agree - you'd think they would have done it quicker.

The eventually used the correct one. Michael was right and should have stuck to his guns. Raef was wrong, but he has a posh accent whcih intimidated Micael into doubting his own convictions. I guess the Op must have missed the earlier thread on this subject which I haven't actually read because I don't need to. I just know how much fun other people will be having with it!

The apostrophe after the s was correct.

This and many other mysteries are discussed in Lynne Truss's book "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" in which she attempts to highlight the importance that punctuation gives to the language.

I object to Mother's Day or Mothers' Day, since the origins are in the church with Mothering Sunday being the day at which congregations would visit the Mother church for one big service instead of individual parish services. It has nothing to do with biological parentage.

Seeing as the thing is a nonsense anyway, we ought to have the right to use it how we wish - Mother's Day if referring to just our own mother to whom we will deliver a lovely and much deserved breakfast in bed on the presribed date, or Mothers' Day if we wish to refer to the enormous profit the card companies make out of the nonsense of cards being sent to many different mothers

You have it completely wrong again! It was Reaf who argued for putting it after the s!

I was out watching a band, there were some leather clad guys with the words "HELLS ANGELS ENGLAND" emblazened accross their denims. I thought about tipping them the wink on the missing apostrophe (from "Hell's Angels"), but thought better of it

Actually no, it was Michael. You got it wrong, Raef got it wrong, and if you have to reduce yourself to being unpleasant and using rolleyes just because your education isn't all that it could have been and you can't face facts or take a lesson from someone who knows then that's your problem and backatcha

To think I only came on here to mention that thing about Hell's Angels - cos I thought it was funny! lol

Now I'm wondering if in fact Vivid is a Hells Angel - probably without the apostrophe!

Jeez!

Have you tried comfry or oil of evening primrose?

And misremembering which person did what is hardly indicative of a poor education.

It was Raef that I remember explaining that it is apostrophe s for singular and s apostrophe for plural.

Eventually Michael did adopt that, though not before making a fool of himself making inane comments about adjectives, showing that he didn't have a clue what he was talking about.

J'agree with you, and paraphrased the same on the other thread. We'll simply have to accept that this sort of thing is easier for some to grasp than others , regardless of IQ.

Dave

At the library cafe at my uni they sell "Banaan's" for 25p each. The sign is right above a bowl of bananas. Wonder what you/Raef/Michael would make of that!

I suspect it's what's known as 'being ironic, innit'.

These comments seem to come straight from the playground.

Not only are you totally wrong but you are wrong in a manner that would disgrace a child. To say "I can't face facts" simply because you have misremembered the incident is abject idiocy and desperately immature. How does that comment add weight to your point of view? It doesn't, it simply indicates that you think a convincing argument is nothing more than name calling. At this point in the playground arguments with which you are clearly well practised, I suspect you are expecting someone to pull your hair, well I would do so if I could.

I do take a lesson from your comments, they teach me why I must never make comments like yours and as someone else said above your attempt to equate someone's memory capability with their education is just stunningly stupid.

Both Michael and Raef argued for putting the apostrophe after the 's'. Neither of them "got it wrong". pammi_i was both inaccurate and childish.

Lesson one:- If you are going to use schoolyard arguments when an adult, get your facts straight first, otherwise you look foolish.

Incidentally, I think there's a case for all three apostrophe arguments.

1) You are sending a card to one "single"; hence, "Single's day". (My least favourite but arguably correct as has been pointed out with references to "Mother's Day" etc.)
2) The day belongs to all "singles" everywhere. The apostrophe goes after the 's'.
3) The day doesn't belong to anyone but is simply a day in celebration of "singles". No apostrophe.

The fact that one can make this argument about all three shows how daft the team was to spend that amount of time on it. Personally, I now tend to subscribe to the"If in doubt, leave it out" philosophy. In my experience, people get their knickers in a twist far less over a missing apostrophe than one which is perceived to be incorrectly placed.

you could have single's
if you mean the day belonging to the single person
doesn't matter how many single persons that refers to
just like mother's
as mentioned
as an english teacher, am impressed with everyone's knowledge
have you thought of applying for apprentice next round?!?

No... they only let people on who have NO knowledge or skills! Makes for better TV.

You're wrong--it was Raef who explained that, as it was a plural word, the apostrophe should go after the 's'. Michael simply wouldn't believe him.That 3 hours wouldn't have been wasted if Michael had listened to Raef.

Actually, pammi, it's you who have the problem here, because you're convinced you're right, when you're wrong.