Re: [vox] [OT] ISO's vs ISOs

[Peter Jay Salzman <p@dirac.MAPSorg>]

micah, i have to admit.  i like your attitude about the subject.

frankly, i think jim made an *awfully* persuasive argument.  i found
myself agreeing with everything he said.

i think using the apostrophe to mark the end of the acronym makes total
sense.  to use jim's example, but with nicole's way of writing it:

   Mind your Ps and Qs.

what exactly should i be minding?  should i be minding a "P" or should i
be minding a "Ps"?  nicole's method doesn't say; it's ambiguous.  the
apostrophe isn't just syntactic sugar.  it serves a purpose.

aside from this, i think it looks better with apostrophes.  :)


still not sure which way to go with, but jim showed that it's not a
clear cut answer.

pete


begin Micah Cowan <micah@cowan.name> 
> Peter Jay Salzman writes:
>  > consider the following two sentences:
>  > 
>  >    A) Getting Debian ISO's has always been a painful experience.
>  >    B) Getting Debian ISOs has always been a painful experience.
> 
> B is correct. However, I don't give a crap.
> 
> I use correct English when it is practical, and don't when it isn't.
> 
> Particularly in technical situations, it is often necessary to use
> unambiguous but incorrect constructs over ambiguous but correct. I do
> this all the time with quote marks, where the following punctuation
> should be within the quotes; but doing so would give the false
> impression that the punctuation is part of the exact sequence of
> characters I'm trying to communicate.
> 
> Also, I generally avoid dangling prepositions; but there are some
> sentences which sound *extremely* awkward when phrased in "Correct
> English." (Oo look - period inside today :) ).
> 
> In the words of Winston Churchill: "There are some criticisms up with
> which I will not put."
> 
>  > sentence B seems more correct, but to my eyes, sentence A looks more
>  > pleasing; it just looks better with the apostrophe.
> 
> Aesthetics is more than enough reason for me. Though I haven't made up
> my mind yet which one looks more aesthetically pleasing to me.
> 
> Grammar should codify actual practice - it should not enforce
> impractical rules upon what is meant to be a means of communication.

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