Posted by Robert Dilley on December 27, 2003 at 18:43:47 from 216.211.4.98 user rdilley.
In Reply to: Re: A White Christmas? or a Russian Birthday Party posted by Peter Ceresole on December 27, 2003 at 15:29:27:
I have been trying to post a picture I took on Christmas Day to show that we are having a White one on the north shore of Lake Superior, as well, but can't figure out how to do it (advice appreciated -- email me so as not to clog up the Board).
To put Superior in context: Marquette on the south shore is 250 km (150 m) away as the frozen crow flies; 750 km (450 m) by road.
In this part of Canada, at least, all the larger stores have had notices up for some time indicating that they will not take returned items on December 26 or 27 -- they are too busy selling off their own surpluses.
Another notable US (and Canada) difference from the UK is in the use of apostrophes to indicate plural dates and acronyms. Over here you see "the 1990's"; "the 50's"; "a number of NGO's" and so on. Grammar books tell you to do that. Having been UK educated, I don't see the point. What is unclear about "the 1990s"; "the 50s" or "a number of NGOs"?
Yet another -- North Americans are punctilious (oops) about putting periods (full stops to the Brits) after all abbreviations. So: "Mr."; "Dec. 25"; "U.S.A." Grammarians tend to argue you should do this only in cases where the end of the word had been left off; the period indicating the omission. So "Dec." is OK while "Mr." (being the first and last letter of the word) is not. Increasingly, UK practice seems to be to ignore periods in abbreviations altogether. Letters coming to me from the US and Canada come addressed to "Dr. R.S. Dilley"; those from the UK usually "Dr R S Dilley". I'm all for keeping things simple -- but it seems to be a matter of style, rather than grammar. What does the author of Eats, Leaves etc say about it? (I notice that I automatically typed "etc". not "etc."
The correct spelling is supersede. Must be one of the classic trick ones.
A Happy New Year to one and all.
Final note -- "Canada's National Magazine" Macleans had a very good editorial pouring scorn on the PC brigade who object to the use of "Christmas" -- especially in a country like Canada, which prides itself on its multicultural tolerance. So, a belated Merry Christmas to one and all, as well.