catapostrophe

whichbe commented on the word catapostrophe

A misplaced diacritical mark known in England as perverted comma. (Addictionary)

June 9, 2008

richardenglish commented on the word catapostrophe

So far as I am aware, I was the first person to use this word, around 2002 on the Wordcraft board. I thought of it myself and confess I had not previously seen the definition "perverted comma" - my own definition is "The catastrophic abuse or misuse of the apostrophe".

September 2, 2009

mollusque commented on the word catapostrophe

Apparently first coined in French, with a different meaning:

"Derrida called it a 'catapostrophe' — that is, an inversion of Aristotle's apostrophe."

--David Lehman, 1991, Signs of the times: deconstruction and the fall of Paul de Man‎, p. 247

September 2, 2009

bilby commented on the word catapostrophe

Too bad Richard, I'm sure I saw one in the Etruscan museum at Chiusi, and it was thought to be over 2,300 years old.

September 2, 2009

richardenglish commented on the word catapostrophe

Bilby, do you mean you saw a catapostrophe or you saw the word catapostrophe?

If the former then I agree - I have no part in the creation of catapostrophes - if the latter, then how come they were using English in Chiusi back then?

September 6, 2009

vanishedone commented on the word catapostrophe

By virtue of having access to the same Greek roots, if that is what bilby meant.

Anyway, the local variant is capostrophe.

September 6, 2009

bilby commented on the word catapostrophe

I was just joking. Very little is known about Etruscan language and grammar although the script has been quite well deciphered. I used to get around in a t-shirt with the Etruscan alphabet on it.

I'm not really that interested in catapostrophe's.

September 6, 2009

sionnach commented on the word catapostrophe

I think Boris looks kind of like a catapostrophe sometimes, e.g. in this picture

September 6, 2009

fbharjo commented on the word catapostrophe

"lydivs ediderat tyrrhenae gentis harvspex" to quote Cicero: lydian and etruscan alphabets both have 8 for their symbol for f: and tuscan cattle have been shown to have a middle eastern origin by their DNA: a different type of trojan horse (cow)? one might say! a complete turnaround perhaps

September 6, 2009

richardenglish commented on the word catapostrophe

Quote, "...I'm not really that interested in catapostrophe's. ..."

That much at least is clear - even if much else that has been posted in this thread is unintelligible to me.

September 6, 2009

bilby commented on the word catapostrophe

I can see irony is wasted, Dick.

September 7, 2009

richardenglish commented on the word catapostrophe

quote, "...I can see irony is wasted, Dick. ..."

Certainly not. I understood your comment perfectly, along with your deliberate catapostrophe. It was some of the other postings that made no sense whatsoever to me. That by fbharjo, for example.

Irony is something that we British are supposed to be good at - although I'd not, in fact, consider any of your comments especially ironical, since they lack the poignancy of true irony.

September 9, 2009