Vince

What is the KISS principle you described in your post on another forum ? Thanks.


Mark

Im not Vince, but KISS stands for Keep It Simple Stupid.

Or, better yet, "Keep It Simple, Stupid."


Not just nitpicking, but without the comma, it may sound like "simple stupid" is a single concept. With the comma, it's clear you're saying something akin to "Hey, Stupid, Keep It Simple!"


Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)

Greg


Thanks for explaining the comma principle. It's nice when people use these things correctly and therefore it is clear to all what they are trying to say.


Could you please explain the principles of using an apostrophe (which is MUCH more highly misused, and bugs me to death!!!).


Dave in Cali

What is that concept? Would an example be when I make a mistake in poker by overlooking something extremely obvious? Does that qualify as a Simple Stupid mistake?


I let a guy check-raise me on the Turn recently when it should have been obvious that he was putting on a big act in the hopes that I would bet. I think it was obvious to anyone at the table who was paying attention. But I was tired and held top set on a board of Jd Th 9d. He check-raised the Flop. I called. The Turn was an Ace. He made a big deal (for him) of inspecting the board closely before betting but in my tired stupor I almost ignored this and bet anyway. Anyone with half a brain should have known he was putting on an act. Paid him off on the River too. He held the KdQd. Nice job M, I guess that was pretty Simple Stupid.

Dave,


That's a qiestion for John Cole.


Mary.


Mary

Apostrophes are used in contractions to replace letters that have been omitted for brevity. cannot becomes can't, do not becomes don't.


Apostrophes are used to show possession. That cat's meow. The button's hole cards. Stella's groove. One notable exception is the word its. "Its" is ALWAYS possessive, "it's" ALWAYS means it is.


When an s has been added to a word to make it plural the apostrophe follows the "s" to show a possessive plural such as the girls' locker room. Of course it could be the girl's locker room but then it is a locker room for only one girl.


An interesting misuse of an apostrophe shows up in print all the time. How many cards have four spots? There are four 4's in a deck. The apostrophe here is wrong and it should be 4s.

You wrote: "There are four 4's in a deck. The apostrophe here is wrong and it should be 4s."


I have been making the mistake above and I'm pretty sure I picked it up reading the forum. Thanks for clearing this up.


Regards,


Rick


PS Is it PS like this or is it


P.S. like this?

Sammy,


Actually, the apostrophe is used with numbers and letters to form the plural, but it isn't used with dates. "Four A's and three 4's" is the correct use; however, the "1930's" is wrong and should be written as "1930s."


John

a

I, am' completely, sorry' I, answered' the, initial' question,'.

Andy,


KMRIA :-}


John

"How many cards have four spots? There are four 4's in a deck. The apostrophe here is wrong and it should be 4s. "


THIS is the most irritating mis-use of the apostrophe. For instance, in the medical world, a CBC is an abbreviation for a complete blood count. Well, if you have more than one of these tests to write, it would be "CBCs", NOT "CBC's". It is the mis-use of the apostrophe when pluralizing something that bugs me more than anything else in writing.


"..."Its" is ALWAYS possessive, "it's" ALWAYS means it is. "


Thank you again for pointing this out. This is another mis-used apostrophe situation, though it's not quite as irritating as the mis-used pluralized word.


I see these mistake's (gotcha, did that on purpose!) in ALL KINDS of writing, sometimes even things written by highly edumacated people. C'mon people, I'm not even an english major (I majored in medical technology and biology), but I at least make an effort!


Basically, one of the primary incentives to "get it right" is so that you don't look like a MORON.


Thanks again


Dave in Cali

at any rate, at least there is some attempt to clear it up. The nit-picking details are not so important, it's the mis-use of the pluralized regular everyday useages of the apostrophe that most bug me anyway.

"There are four 4's in a deck. The apostrophe here is wrong and it should be 4s."


I have been making the mistake above"


It's not a mistake. It may be misuse but not a mistake. The reason it is not a mistake is because it is undertsood by 1oo% of the audience what is meant.


vince

O Dave,


One time I saw this lovely sentence: "The student's took their book's to the class's but wont answer the professors question's."


John


BTW, Ph.D.'s is correct, but if the periods are omitted, it should be written PhDs. Strange, huh?

"The student's took their book's to the class's but wont answer the professors question's."


OUCH!!!!


I cringed when I saw that. It made me want to take a bunch of big stick's and go whak a bunch of student's on their head's and the teacher's who never taught them how to use apostrophe's correctly.


Seriously though, it's great to have a forum where we can discuss this kind of thing. I have seen several other forums of various types on the internet, but basically I have difficultly finding any forums where I can find intelligent people to have intelligent conversations with. Thats' why the Vince Forum is such a good thing. Yea, we can talk poker, but we can talk "everything Vince Lepore" too, which encompasses a wide variety of highly important matters which are highly significant and very much applicable to the social fabric of today's society.


Like Chasin' Girls.


Did I get all my apostrophes right that time?


Dave in Cali

"cannot becomes can't, do not becomes don't."


How in the heck do the two words "am" & "not" end up as "ain't"?

Great handle!

Dunno. But it might have something to do with the sound combination. One note: about 150 years ago, "ain't" was a marker of upper class speech.


John

here is a link that explains the pluralized apostrophes. John was right ( as usual) and I was wrong.


http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/marks/apostrophe.htm

SammyB,


It's one of the sites I use to check these matters; in fact, I double-checked this site and Purdue's on-line writing lab to make sure I had it right. (I found the distinction between Ph.D.'s and PhDs at webster.)


John

"Dunno. But it might have something to do with the sound combination"


John,


Perhaps it is bed time. You may feel much better after a good sleep.


vince