It's Tesco not Tescos

Solair · 09-09-2011 02:00PM

Cú Giobach wrote: »

I left school over 25 years ago and have forgotten the vast majority of stuff I learned that I haven't had to use since.
Up until just over a year ago I had no reason to write and use punctuation or worry about spelling since the day I finished my last leaving cert exam, and I have no intention of going to the trouble of re-learning all the subtlties of grammar, punctuation etc for the sake of the few pompous grammar/punctuation nazis on a forum such as this.

It's not for people on forums, but if you send off a business letter or write a brochure or a website and it's full of grammar errors, it makes it look very unprofessional.

You can write what you like on a forum, or in an e-mail or whatever. It's not formal text.

I just find it kind of amazing that people produce serious documents and permanent signage and don't proof them.

Solair · 09-09-2011 02:02PM

JerryHandbag wrote: »

So Argos should just be called Argo? Gotcha

If you're French yeah..

pickarooney · 09-09-2011 02:02PM

Solair wrote: »

French speakers also can't handle a / o at the end of words so change things.
California - Californie
Florida - Floridie
etc etc

Irish phonetics are far closer to east coast American / Canadian phonetics than English or Australian.

That might explain why English folk, particularly those from 'up north' tend to say Tescos.

Have you a degree in being wrong? You've a unique talent for it.

Scanlas The 2nd · 09-09-2011 02:03PM

hooradiation wrote: »

Because it's actually "Tesco's" as in "the store that is owned by Tesco" but we have no way to pronounce the apostrophe and then that carries over into the written word.

It's not difficult.

The shop's name is Tesco.

Example:

John went to Tesco to buy milk.

There is no need there to put more effort in by adding an s at the end.

Why don't people say " John went to HMV's to buy a CD"?

You're right it's not difficult.

Solair · 09-09-2011 02:03PM

pickarooney wrote: »

Have you a degree in being wrong? You've a unique talent for it.

What's that supposed to mean?!

French generally avoids o / a sounds at the end of words and modifies imported Spanish ones for that reason. It just doesn't flow properly in French.

Cú Giobach · 09-09-2011 02:05PM

Solair wrote: »

It's not for people on forums, but if you send off a business letter or write a brochure or a website and it's full of grammar errors, it makes it look very unprofessional and will tend to just look totally unprofessional.

You can write what you like on a forum, or in an e-mail or whatever. It's not formal text.

I just find it kind of amazing that people produce serious documents and permanent signage and don't proof them.

I just took your post in the context of Boards, it's true alright that business letters etc, badly written give a terrible impression.

Master and commander · 09-09-2011 02:05PM

The same thing happens with Lister and Petter engines. Some folk say stuff like " that engine is a Listers or a Petters"
No its not FFS. it is a LISTER or a PETTER.
It tends to happen more with the Petter engine.

FlutterinBantam · 09-09-2011 02:06PM

Scanlas The 2nd wrote: »

Why do people refer to Tesco as Tescos? Why throw on an extra s?

For the same reason as:

People call Blanchardstown 'Blancherstown'

People call Punchestown 'Puncherstown'

People call Rochestown Ave. 'Rocherstown Ave.

People call Chicago 'Chicargo'

People call August 'Aurgust'

People call Euro 'Euros'

People call Italian 'Eyetalian'

People call Corporation 'Copperation'

People call Chapelizod 'Chapelizard'

People call Teneriffe 'Teleriffe'

People call Lisbon 'Lisburn'
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Will I:cool: go on

Let me know when you find out.

Solair · 09-09-2011 02:07PM

Master and commander wrote: »

The same thing happens with Lister and Petter engines. Some folk say stuff like " that engine is a Listers or a Petters"
No its not FFS. it is a LISTER or a PETTER.
It tends to happen more with the Petter engine.

Again, there's nothing wrong with that. It's a Lister's and Petter's engine.
They're companies / organisations / people so something made by them can use a genitive possessive apostrophe.

Yahew · 09-09-2011 02:08PM

OP says Tesco, some say Tescos.

Lets call the whole thread off.

Gophur · 09-09-2011 02:09PM

Scanlas The 2nd wrote: »

Why do people refer to Tesco as Tescos? Why throw on an extra s?

TESCO is the Corporation that owns all those stores, so, when one is going shopping, one goes, not to the Corporation, but to their shop down the road.

Hence, when one says one is going to Tesco's, one is correct!

Master and commander · 09-09-2011 02:10PM

I just find it kind of amazing that people produce serious documents and permanent signage and don't proof them.

indeed. If anyone has visits the OPW's Main Guard in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, you may have noticed the display boards in the exhibition upstairs are FULL of mistakes. They are just minor typos and grammar errors like missing commas and stuff, the meaning is still clear but it show a lack of attention on the part of the signmakers/producers. It also shows the laid back attitude of the OPW staff in accepting non-perfect signboards. If it was private sector, they would be sent back tot he makers and no payment made until a new correct board was supplied.

It just makes a terrible impression on tourists and pedantic feckers like me.

FlutterinBantam · 09-09-2011 02:10PM

Gophur wrote: »

TESCO is the Corporation that owns all those stores, so, when one is going shopping, one goes, not to the Corporation, but to their shop down the road.

Hence, when one says one is going to Tesco's, one is correct!

One is not.

Scanlas The 2nd · 09-09-2011 02:11PM

Ok I found out the reason.

People who say Tescos feel the need to fit in to the group moreso than people who say Tesco. Possible self esteem issues. I think they need to be accepted by others. If you think for yourself I think people would say Tesco unless of course someone actually thought the name was Tescos. I don't hear people saying Burger Kings, Microsofts or Manchester Uniteds.

Example:

Wayne Rooney plays for Manchester Uniteds.

pickarooney · 09-09-2011 02:14PM

Solair wrote: »

What's that supposed to mean?!

French generally avoids o / a sounds at the end of words and modifies imported Spanish ones for that reason. It just doesn't flow properly in French.

So that's why there are no words in French which end in:

o
os
ot
ots
eau
eaux
au
aux

is it?

And French speakers wouldn't be able to deal with the 'a' sound, the first vowel that every child on the planet learns?

Liam90 · 09-09-2011 02:14PM

I hate when people say euros.....

please just say euro.....

c_man · 09-09-2011 02:16PM

gavredking wrote: »

ATM machine?

Sasha Grey?

Johro · 09-09-2011 02:18PM

Shane-KornSpace wrote: »

Also, it's not Santy Claus! It's Santa!!

There is no sanity clause.

Solair · 09-09-2011 02:19PM

pickarooney wrote: »

So that's why there are no words in French which end in:

o
os
ot
ots
eau
eaux
au
aux

is it?

And French speakers wouldn't be able to deal with the 'a' sound, the first vowel that every child on the planet learns?

To give you the full boring explanation:

To have a native word ending in "o" is simply not compatible with French orthography. This does not mean, however, that there are not words ending in an "o" sound, whether they end in the digraphs "au" or "eau" or in an "o" followed by a silent consonant. It should be remembered that "o" in French is generally pronounced as IPA [ɔ], while "au" and "eau" are pronounced as IPA [o].

As I said, French people don't like "o" at the end of a word!!

Phonetics and orthography are more about look / feel and pronunciation comfort than they are about hard rules. It's language, not science.

Spanish has 'gender bending' of nouns starting with vowels to avoid clashing two vowels.
Agua (f) should be La agua. So, they just make it El agua to avoid over-stressing their tongues

Hogzy · 09-09-2011 02:22PM

chin_grin wrote: »

Same thing irks me about "Easons". It's Eason.

Well its "Eason & Sons", So Easons is perfectly acceptable IMO. Back in the day all local shops were "-Insert Family Name- and Sons", hence why they add the S

pickarooney · 09-09-2011 02:28PM

Just... stop being so hopelessly wrong on every level, please. It was funny at first, now it's kind of scary. :pac:

http://dict.xmatiere.com/suffixes/mots_finissant_en_o.php

Note that 'o' at the end of a word is pronounced [o] everywhere in France. 'o' is only [ɔ]
in non-final position in the far south, elsewhere it's [o].

As for 'a'...

http://dict.xmatiere.com/suffixes/mots_finissant_en_a.php

hooradiation · 09-09-2011 02:29PM

Scanlas The 2nd wrote: »

The shop's name is Tesco.

Example:

John went to Tesco to buy milk.

There is no need there to put more effort in by adding an s at the end.

Why don't people say " John went to HMV's to buy a CD"?

You're right it's not difficult.

People don't say HMV's because it's a three letter acronym and pronounced as such
i.e it's H-M-V not Aitchemveee
And as a general rule we don't use the 's' as a possessive for acronyms, mostly because it sounds weird.
Language is like that sometimes.

Likewise
"John went to Tesco's to buy milk" is perfectly valid.
because it means
"John went to the store owned by Tesco to buy milk"

So yes, it's not difficult, despite your attempts to make it so.

And the less said about your "fitting in" nonsense the better.

FGR · 09-09-2011 02:29PM

See I know Ireland has adopted 'Euro' as the plural term for more than one Euro however to be technically correct in English it should be pronounced 'Euros'.

Would you think it's right to go around the US/Canada/Australia/Britain and ask for the price of something - "2 dollar please." or "13 pound please".

English is my first language I'm afraid. :pac:

jonnyfingers · 09-09-2011 02:30PM

On the point of euro being always singular, I was in America last week and saw various signs advertising fishes for sail. Is that right?

Solair · 09-09-2011 02:30PM

Jeff_Lebowski wrote: »

Anyways doesn't have an apostrophe either but you didn't spot that one smartypants!

It doesn't mean that it's correct just because they don't stick it up on their signage.

They also put up "ten items or less" which is totally incorrect, even though it's used all the time.

It should be "ten items or fewer" as the items are countable

It'd be fine if they were only selling uncountable items like sugar or perhaps conceptual things like love

However, it's understood and it's commonly used and language is a constantly changing thing. English has a big advantage in so far as it's grammatical system is modern, relatively easy to use and simplified. It's constantly changing and things drop out of use.

The apostrophe thing is just annoying though

If in doubt, it looks better to leave it out than to add an unnecessary apostrophe to a plural

I recently saw "Toilet's" and "no extra's"

Best one was a sign I saw in Cork a few months ago:

"Selection has been greatly reduced!"

They meant - "This selection of products has been greatly reduced in price".

Keyzer · 09-09-2011 02:31PM

Scanlas The 2nd wrote: »

Why do people refer to Tesco as Tescos? Why throw on an extra s?

Who gives a toss anyway?

People call things all sorts of stuff i.e. are you getting a chipper? where I would say are you getting fish and chips?

So what, people have different ways of saying things...

Scanlas The 2nd · 09-09-2011 02:32PM

hooradiation wrote: »

People don't say HMV's because it's a three letter acronym and pronounced as such
i.e it's H-M-V not Aitchemveee
And as a general rule we don't use the 's' as a possessive for acronyms, mostly because it sounds weird.
Language is like that sometimes.

Likewise
"John went to Tesco's to buy milk" is perfectly valid.
because it means
"John went to the store owned by Tesco to buy milk"

So yes, it's not difficult, despite your attempts to make it so.

And the less said about your "fitting in" nonsense the better.

People don't say they are "going to lifestyles".

Do you think people mean Tesco's shop when they say Tesco's. I don't. I think a lot actually think it's called Tescos.

Solair · 09-09-2011 02:34PM

If anyone thinks that punctuation's no big deal, they should check out this video from BBC News 24.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loWFypHb48k

Miguel_Sanchez · 09-09-2011 02:34PM

Liam90 wrote: »

I hate when people say euros.....

please just say euro.....

Apparently both are correct.

Yo-Yo however is not.

Solair wrote: »

It doesn't mean that it's correct just because they don't stick it up on their signage.

You do realise I was joking when I posted originally though, right?

pickarooney · 09-09-2011 02:35PM

Solair wrote: »

However, it's understood and it's commonly used and language is a constantly changing thing. English has a big advantage in so far as it's grammatical system is modern, relatively easy to use and simplified. It's constantly changing and things drop out of use.

The apostrophe thing is just annoying though If in doubt, it looks better to leave it out than to add an unnecessary apostrophe to a plural

I don't mean to kick you while you're flailing helplessly on the ground, but someone else will if I don't :P

It's Tesco not Tescos

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