Minor things that bother you

[1995hoo]

Am I imagining something, or did this thread get truncated? I was going to agree with vdeane's bemused comment about certain posts above.

If it's the one I'm thinking it is, she made that comment in 'Your Favorite Forum Quotes'.

Thanks. You are correct. I got mixed up between threads because the same overall matter was addressed.

[hotdogPi]

Why do some people use backticks instead of apostrophes? Example from the guess the state thread:

"˜Bama

It's not limited to this forum.

[CtrlAltDel]

Why do some people use backticks instead of apostrophes? Example from the guess the state thread:

"˜Bama

It's not limited to this forum.

The official practice at my current institution, when former students make donations or get buildings named after them and so on, is to indicate the year they graduated with an opening single quote and the last two digits, so:

Robert H. Smith "˜67

instead of an apostrophe, which would be correct:

Robert H. Smith '67.

It's a very small thing but it drives me nuts.

[kphoger]

Is it an autocorrect thing?

[hotdogPi]

Is it an autocorrect thing?

For an opening quote, probably. I've seen it with a true backtick before (`), though.

[kphoger]

My wife has a direct sales job.  That's not the thing that bothers me, so settle down.  No, it's that people can sign up under my wife without ever having talked to her, and the system doesn't even require my wife to approve it.  So, every so often, she'll get a notification out of the blue that she's got a new member of her team.  This drives my wife nuts.

But it gets better:  to sign up, a person has to have purchased the starter kit.  Can you imagine buying a starter kit for a direct sales job and signing up under someone without having so much as even communicated one word with that someone?  About, you know, whether the job is even right for you?

[CtrlAltDel]

Is it an autocorrect thing?

After looking it up again, I've found that they've either changed the style or I was mistaken all along and that the thing to do is to use an apostrophe, which gives me a certain sense of relief.

Regardless, the use of the single opening quote in practice is almost certainly due to autocorrect. Actually, one of the reasons that I thought that they went with using opening quotes was that it would at least be consistent precisely due to autocorrect and most people not noticing a difference.

[kurumi]

How about those ancient Unix programs that try to be fancy (incorrectly) using backticks and foot marks for quotes, making it look worse:

Code Select Expand

Failed to unfrobulate version ``bleah''.

[vdeane]

Trying to sleep when the person in the apartment above you has the TV on and you can hear the muffled sound through the ceiling is the worst.

[kphoger]

Trying to sleep when the person in the apartment above you has the TV on and you can hear the muffled sound through the ceiling is the worst.

Removed superfluous verbiage.

[abefroman329]

Trying to sleep when the person in the apartment above you has the TV on and you can hear the muffled sound through the ceiling is the worst.

After moving into my new place, I discovered that my bedroom shares at least one wall with at least one elevator shaft, and there isn't a whole lot of soundproofing.

I need to look into whether there's anything about noise levels in the landlord-tenant ordinances.

[JayhawkCO]

When fast food restaurants don't put their drink options on the menu board.

[CtrlAltDel]

When fast food restaurants don't put their drink options on the menu board.

When the menu goes away and is temporarily replaced with what is essentially advertisements.

[wanderer2575]

When fast food restaurants don't put their drink options on the menu board.

When fast food restaurants omit ANY of their items from the menu board.  I can't find the simple cheeseburger on the board at Burger King, or the simple bean burrito on the board at Taco Bell?  Bye-bye.

[dlsterner]

When fast food restaurants don't put their drink options on the menu board.

Fast food restaurants with dynamic, changing "menu boards" on video screens.  "I thought I saw something that looked good, but it's not on the screen any more!".  Then wait until it rotates back in so I can see if it really is what I want.

[wanderer2575]

When fast food restaurants don't put their drink options on the menu board.

Fast food restaurants with dynamic, changing "menu boards" on video screens.  "I thought I saw something that looked good, but it's not on the screen any more!".  Then wait until it rotates back in so I can see if it really is what I want.

And then you have maybe five seconds to take in the price and other details.  It's like trying to watch your kid on a carousel.

[kphoger]

When fast food restaurants don't put their drink options on the menu board.

Fast food restaurants with dynamic, changing "menu boards" on video screens.  "I thought I saw something that looked good, but it's not on the screen any more!".  Then wait until it rotates back in so I can see if it really is what I want.

And then you have maybe five seconds to take in the price and other details.  It's like trying to watch your kid on a carousel.

This.  And may the Lord help you if you want to compare prices and options for two items that are on different boards.

[mgk920]

And then you do get used to the menu board layout and offerings and the next time you go in, it's all been changed, with one or more of your favorite items mysteriously no longer being there.

Mike

[kkt]

Why do some people use backticks instead of apostrophes? Example from the guess the state thread:

"˜Bama

It's not limited to this forum.

The official practice at my current institution, when former students make donations or get buildings named after them and so on, is to indicate the year they graduated with an opening single quote and the last two digits, so:

Robert H. Smith "˜67

instead of an apostrophe, which would be correct:

Robert H. Smith '67.

It's a very small thing but it drives me nuts.

You're not alone.  That would bug me so much I'd probably withhold contributions until they reconsidered.

[thenetwork]

Why do some people use backticks instead of apostrophes? Example from the guess the state thread:

"˜Bama

It's not limited to this forum.

The official practice at my current institution, when former students make donations or get buildings named after them and so on, is to indicate the year they graduated with an opening single quote and the last two digits, so:

Robert H. Smith "˜67

instead of an apostrophe, which would be correct:

Robert H. Smith '67.

It's a very small thing but it drives me nuts.

You're not alone.  That would bug me so much I'd probably withhold contributions until they reconsidered.

Speaking of colleges and universities, I graduated from a state university 30-some years ago.  I pretty much did my studies to earn a degree, be a part of one or two student organizations, went to a few sports games and that was it.

I have moved 15-20 times since graduation, and yet at least a few times each year, I still get snail mail and telemarketing calls from someone from the University asking for money.

Yet 25-30 years later, I still get "followed" and tracked by an institution that I have told them several times over the years that I do not wish to be contacted anymore and yet they continue to do so.  It kind of creeps me out that with all the modern day scammers and telemarketers who try to peel money off of you that a college you decide not do not keep in touch with anymore continues to track you down for decades begging like a panhandler.

[1995hoo]

Why do some people use backticks instead of apostrophes? Example from the guess the state thread:

"˜Bama

It's not limited to this forum.

The official practice at my current institution, when former students make donations or get buildings named after them and so on, is to indicate the year they graduated with an opening single quote and the last two digits, so:

Robert H. Smith "˜67

instead of an apostrophe, which would be correct:

Robert H. Smith '67.

It's a very small thing but it drives me nuts.

You're not alone.  That would bug me so much I'd probably withhold contributions until they reconsidered.

I think the use of the opening single quotation mark is an autocorrect thing. People assume whatever autocorrect does is right, and most people probably don't appreciate the difference between an opening single quotation mark and an apostrophe. I used to see it all the time in legal briefing in patent cases. US patents have numbers, typically with seven digits, but in litigation they're usually referred to by the last three digits with an apostrophe noting the truncation. All too many attorneys would file briefing using an opening single quotation mark in that situation. It's easy to avoid, too–just hit the apostrophe twice, then go back and delete the first one.

Then there was this abomination at a UVA football game some years ago.

[wanderer2575]

^  I know you're referring to the cheerleaders' sign.  But what would really bother me is that even if I pay for their hosting service, Photobucket will still slap a huge watermark across my photos.

[kkt]

It's easy to avoid, too–just hit the apostrophe twice, then go back and delete the first one.

It's also easy to avoid by turning autocorrect OFF.

[1995hoo]

^  I know you're referring to the cheerleaders' sign.  But what would really bother me is that even if I pay for their hosting service, Photobucket will still slap a huge watermark across my photos.

I don't pay for their service. That's a photo I had uploaded years ago.

[kurumi]

Ten years ago, our complaints about restaurant websites was "cute flash animation; where's the menu?", or "oh FFS not another PDF"

Now, the menu's hidden behind "Order Now!" / "What's your location?" / "What time to pick up?" / sign up for yet another new account