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It. Is. Not. Tescos.

I can not believe I have not posted about this before, as it’s one of my pet gripes in what is now a menagerie that grows as I become increasingly in touch with my inner git.

But a quick search through the archive shows me that the one gripe to rule them all has crept in under my blogdar.

Tesco’s

Marks and Spencer’s

W H Smith’s

Sainsbury’s.

Spot the odd one out.

…

The answer is Sainsbury’s, but that doesn’t stop people from adding an imaginary ” ’s ” behind the others.

Fair game, some shops end in the letter s. Dixons, Morrisons, Debenhams, Boots, Ladbrokes. You can have all those. But why do people who say Tesco’s not also say Body Shop’s, Asda’s, H’s M’s V’s, Phones For You’s? Or Snappy Snaps’s?

There’s a shop in Windsor called Daniel. That’s it. Like the name. But throughout the Thames Valley it is known as Daniel’s. You can’t miss it. It’s right opposite Woolworths’s.

Why do we have to pluralise them or give them possessive articles?

Next week on These Are These:
Currys - Surely Curries. Or at least Curry’s.

Apologies to Wendy, who heard this nearly word for word today during the conversation that sparked this post. She provided the catalyst and was the muse of the day, which seamlessly leads me to direct you here.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 29th, 2006 at 8:35 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed, or you can skip to the end and leave a comment yourself.

9 Responses to “It. Is. Not. Tescos.”

  1. meesteryan Says:
    November 29th, 2006 at 8:46 am

    nice ones man

  2. Mr Angry Says:
    November 29th, 2006 at 9:36 am

    I read this and thought, “Oh shit, he’s talking about me…”

    So I went back and checked yesterdays post, and low and behold I have not pluralised Tesco at all! Phew!

    I now just have the other couple of dozen gramatical errors to focus on. Salvadore taught me the difference between who and whom last week, at this rate I’ll have this blogging lark down by mid 2009.

  3. Cliff Says:
    November 29th, 2006 at 10:09 am

    Meester - Shut ups. Stop teasings.

    Angry - no, this goes right back with me. Grammar and spelling errors I can live with, it’s consistant wrongness that irks the merkin.

  4. * (asterisk) Says:
    November 29th, 2006 at 11:00 am

    I hate people playing Trivial Pursuits or listening to George Michael’s “Careless Whispers”.

  5. Wendy Says:
    November 29th, 2006 at 12:33 pm

    Slightly off-topic, perhaps, but my dad used to call Dances With Wolves Dancing With Wolves .
    Cliffs - you should of posted this pet hate sooner.
    Happy to say, though, Thresher Group, but ThresherS stores. Phew!

  6. ted Says:
    November 29th, 2006 at 6:47 pm

    Lynne Truss says plurality/apostrophe exemption can be earned through historic usage or tradition - Lloyds Bank, (but not Lloyd’s Insurance) Barts, Harrods, St. Andrews. But not Tesco.

  7. Sooz Says:
    November 29th, 2006 at 11:19 pm

    And surely it should be Tescoes? One Tesco - two tescoEs?

    *crawls backs under her stones*

  8. Ed R Says:
    November 30th, 2006 at 3:32 am

    ‘Cliffs’.
    Wendy, you, young lady, are GREATNESS. Cliffs is going to hate you for it very soon, though, because I’m never going to call him anything else;)

  9. Wendy Says:
    November 30th, 2006 at 5:33 pm

    Thanks Ed! I’m ridiculously flattered about being called “young lady”.
    :)

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