Grammar Discussions

And once again bad grammar costs millions.



[h=1]Lack of an Oxford comma could cost company millions in overtime dispute[/h]
Maine: A class-action lawsuit about overtime pay for truck drivers hinged entirely on a debate that has bitterly divided friends, families and foes: The dreaded - or totally necessary - Oxford comma, perhaps the most polarising of punctuation marks.


What ensued in the 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals, and in a 29-page court decision handed down on Monday, was an exercise in high-stakes grammar pedantry that could cost a dairy company in Portland, Maine, an estimated $US10 million ($13 million).

Lack of an Oxford comma could cost company millions in overtime dispute
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If you ever thought grammar wasn't important then maybe this story will change your mind.
 
Hvr said:
And once again bad grammar costs millions.





If you ever thought grammar wasn't important then maybe this story will change your mind.
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It was bad drafting. The answer to which was not another comma, but to separate what was written as one list into two lists.

The original was:
The canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution of:

(1) Agricultural produce;
(2) Meat and fish products; and
(3) Perishable foods.



Better drafting would be:
The canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing or packing, for shipment or distribution, of:

(1) Agricultural produce;

(2) Meat and fish products; and
(3) Perishable foods.

The Oxford comma is still rubbish.
 
esseeeayeenn said:
It was bad drafting. The answer to which was not another comma, but to separate what was written as one list into two lists.

The original was:
The canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution of:

(1) Agricultural produce;
(2) Meat and fish products; and
(3) Perishable foods.



Better drafting would be:
The canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing or packing, for shipment or distribution, of:

(1) Agricultural produce;

(2) Meat and fish products; and
(3) Perishable foods.

The Oxford comma is still rubbish.
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Depends what the authors really mean.
Did they intend to include just packing or did they intend to include packing and distribution?
 
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andye said:
Depends what the authors really mean.
Did they intend to include just packing or did they intend to include packing and distribution?
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That isn't the ambiguity.
The ambiguity is whether they meant:
"canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for distribution" or
"canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment ... ... ... or distribution" .

There is no serious suggestion they meant the latter. The drivers simply argued that because there was an ambiguity, and because the law was intended to operate in their favour, then the possible meaning which was most favourable to them should be preferred. It's a standard principle of statutory interpretation.
 
One's gotta love a good butcher. Take a butcher's at what raised a smile during our shopping this morning.
IMG_0882.jpg
 
The ACT is imprisoning black men and women at a huge rate based on the amount of uniforms they are ordering.

Fashion crimes: Alexander Maconochie Centre inmates set for wardrobe overhaul

The ACT government is in the market to give inmates at the Alexander Maconochie Centre a wardrobe overhaul.


On the government's shopping list are 800 pairs of black track pants, 1000 pairs of black thongs and 1500 pairs of black men's and women's underwear.
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An update, I emailed the journalist and he's corrected the sentence.
 
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A reader's comment on the Washington Post story about how the coal industry employs fewer people than a restaurant chain called "Arby's":

Coal + China = Jobs in the Appellation regions of the United States.
The Appellation regions of the United States DOES NOT HAVE Jobs to offer in Car Washes, Theme Parks, Used Car dealerships, Travel Agencies, Casino’s, Radio, Museums, Culturally relevant expensive cheese and wineries, or coffee baristas. They do have COAL.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...more-people-than-coal/?utm_term=.600ba0dbd107
 
JT it tends to be safer to watch the ABC news. I get startled by Channel 7 claiming each of their lead stories to be a Channel 7 exclusive.
Channel 9 and Channel 10 are both running roughly if you base that on the latest financial results.
With the daylight saving finishing it was a "quite night".Dont get me started on then and than nor too and to and two in sentences.
 
cove said:
JT it tends to be safer to watch the ABC news. I get startled by Channel 7 claiming each of their lead stories to be a Channel 7 exclusive.
Channel 9 and Channel 10 are both running roughly if you base that on the latest financial results.
With the daylight saving finishing it was a "quite night".Dont get me started on then and than nor too and to and two in sentences.
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What got me last night was the reporting of floods in the Northern Rivers mentioning a small town on the Tweed River, The caption said "Tumblegum". The town is "Tumbulgum". At least they got the pronunciation correct. They need to check facts in an effort to get them right.
 
coco50 said:
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What got me last night was the reporting of floods in the Northern Rivers mentioning a small town on the Tweed River, The caption said "Tumblegum". The town is "Tumbulgum". At least they got the pronunciation correct. They need to check facts in an effort to get them right.
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At least we didn't have anyone "self evacuating" during this flood "event".
 
TheRealTMA said:
Grammar action!

Revealed: Self-styled 'grammar vigilante' corrects badly punctuated shop signs in dead of night
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The Bristol 'grammar vigilante" is quite a funny story.
For years, it has been rumoured that somebody has been going out late at night, correcting bad punctuation on Bristol shop fronts.
The self-proclaimed "grammar vigilante" goes out undercover in the dead of night correcting street signs and shop fronts where the apostrophes are in the wrong place.
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Meet the 'Grammar Vigilante' of Bristol - BBC News
 

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