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Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2016 May 23

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May 23

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Poonami

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Is this neologism acceptable in polite conversation/ writing? And is it more or less offensive than, for example, "shitstorm"? I am sorry to be crude. 217.38.82.213 (talk) 20:30, 23 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Do you mean punani? If so, it's not a neologism. --Jayron32 21:06, 23 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
No, probably not the Staines Massive version, e.g. this? I think you probably mean poo + tsunami = poonami, which I think is a UK neologism and usually means "tidal wave of shit" i.e. "unwanted aggravation." Slightly different meaning given here. Martinevans123 (talk) 21:20, 23 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
In places with a combined sewer, heavy rains can treat the residents to turds floating in the basement, due to a sanitary sewer overflow. So, this term might apply here. StuRat (talk) 22:57, 24 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Original research, but the term is completely current among all parents of new babies that I know. Re the polite conversation question, however, none seem to use it when talking to their own parents. It's just a joke among friends about diaper changing.184.147.127.106 (talk) 11:46, 25 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

possessive 's

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I hate to ask something this simple which is fairly well-covered elsewhere but I was hoping for an expert answer I can take to template editors for a protected page. There are a series of templates which always add a 's to show possession when linking to an external user account. This can produce results like The Beach Boys's. To me, that looks like a compound noun as described in Apostrophe#General principles for the possessive apostrophe. Another editor justifies it as "The Beach Boys" is a singular entity so singular noun rules apply. So, is The Beach Boys's correct, incorrect, or can its correctness only be measured against the style used across the rest of the article in which it appears? WP:POSS seems to stress consistency of writing in the article, so I feel individual editors should have the ability to choose whether ' or 's is applied, and ifso that opens up a lot of other cases. Reidgreg (talk) 20:52, 23 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Typically, in American English, plural agreement is used for band names that are themselves plural; thus the Beach Boys are... but Kansas is.... So I don't really think the Beach Boys's really works very well. (In British English, band names are typically construed as plural, regardless of whether the name itself is plural.) --Trovatore (talk) 21:06, 23 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
The other way to look at this is to take note of the capital letters, and recognise that The Beach Boys is a proper noun. In that case, there is a well recognised disagreement about whether the possessive should be done with just an apostrophe,or with an apostrophe plus s. Thus style guides differ as to whether it should be Moses' beard or Moses's beard. Some even add the s except when the word has a double s sound - so would approve of Moses' beard, but insist on James's beard. 86.131.28.46 (talk) 21:56, 23 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
No, you don't get to that disagreement. Possessives of plurals ending in s are never apostrophe-s, proper noun or no. Since "the Beach Boys" is construed as plural in all varieties of English, it is correct (and required) to use the bare apostrophe.
I would agree. Although "The Beach Boys's" is not impossible, and "The Beach Boys" is a collective and proper noun, the word 'boys' has already undergone one transformation to add -s, so adding -'s makes for a second transformation. Peter Grey (talk) 00:02, 24 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
The "double-s" sound is another strange thing — obviously Moses' and Moses's are both correct, but the latter is pronounced with three syllables, "MOH-ziz-ziz". It's utterly weird that some guides don't seem to take note of the correct three-syllable pronunciation. --Trovatore (talk) 22:45, 23 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • It's worth noting that in those possessives where the final s is optional, sometimes people write it but don't pronounce it, and sometimes people pronounce it but don't write it. --69.159.60.83 (talk) 19:07, 24 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Then there's this family whose surname is Moses. They are the Moseses. Across the street is another family of Moseses. The postman got confused one day and delivered mail to the wrong Moseses, and ended up wondering how many more Moseseses there were in that street. This became enshrined in post office lore as The Moseseses's Dilemma. -- Jack of Oz [pleasantries] 23:25, 23 May 2016 (UTC) [reply]
Sometimes plural nouns do take ’s. For example, children's toys, women's dresses, men's shoes, people's preferences. But in the case of "The Beach Boys", I prefer "The Beach Boys' albums". —Stephen (talk) 00:34, 24 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
I initially said "plural nouns", but I amended it to "plural nouns ending in s". I don't believe plural nouns ending in s ever take 's. --Trovatore (talk) 00:46, 24 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
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