# Possessives are not plurals. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 23, 2005, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessives-are-not-plurals/318277 "2005-08-23T16:30:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![davmilasav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@davmilasav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davmilasav)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2005, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessives-are-not-plurals/318277/41 "2005-08-27T09:57:21Z")
This month’s **Readers’ Digest** screwed up the punchline of the panda joke\* by leaving out the all-important comma. I guess they’re coppy editor was to zealous. 😉 _A panda walks into a restaurant and orders a meal. When finished, he whips out a gun, fires it into the air and departs. The owner follows him outside and says, “What the hell was that all about?” The panda hand him a zoo pamphlet and replies, “I’m a panda. Look it up.” The man reads the pamphlet, which says "Panda: A large relative of the raccoon. Eats_\*, \*\*shoots and leaves." ---
**Author:** ![carterba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85e7bf/32.png) [@carterba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carterba)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2005, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessives-are-not-plurals/318277/42 "2005-08-27T16:21:03Z")
> [@davmilasav](#): > > This month’s **Readers’ Digest** screwed up the punchline of the panda joke\* by leaving out the all-important comma. I guess they’re coppy editor was to zealous. 😉 > > _A panda walks into a restaurant and orders a meal. When finished, he whips out a gun, fires it into the air and departs. The owner follows him outside and says, “What the hell was that all about?” The panda hand him a zoo pamphlet and replies, “I’m a panda. Look it up.” The man reads the pamphlet, which says "Panda: A large relative of the raccoon. Eats_\*, \*\*shoots and leaves." No, there shouldn’t be a comma there. The joke is on the panda’s bad grammar: the pamphlet describes what a panda _eats_; the panda interprets it as a list of things a panda _does_, despite the lack of commas. My usage pet peeve is “loose” for “lose”. I think I actually see the misusage more frequently than the correct usage these days. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2005, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessives-are-not-plurals/318277/43 "2005-08-27T16:58:04Z")
> [@davmilasav](#): > > This month’s **Readers’ Digest** screwed up the punchline of the panda joke\* by leaving out the all-important comma. I guess they’re coppy editor was to zealous. 😉 I noticed that, too! What bugs me the most in that magazine, though, is the tag line for Mary Roach’s column. It’s something like “Mary finds humour in the oddest places – and her car keys.” Drives me just a little bit nuts every time I see it. > [@carterba](#): > > No, there shouldn’t be a comma there. The joke is on the panda’s bad grammar: the pamphlet describes what a panda eats; the panda interprets it as a list of things a panda does, despite the lack of commas. Sorry, but you’re wrong: the joke is that the pamphlet is incorrect. The Amazon page for the book _[Eats, Shoots & Leaves](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1592400876/qid=1125162068/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-4503042-2248661?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)_ even says so: > [@](#): > > The title refers to the “Panda” entry in a poorly punctuated wildlife manual that, if believed, indicates the panda is truly to be feared, especially after eating. ---
**Author:** ![lorinada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5e925/32.png) [@lorinada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorinada)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2005, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessives-are-not-plurals/318277/44 "2005-08-27T18:56:41Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > The other thing that gets me is when people use quote marks around individual words to express emphasis, which isn’t what quote marks around individual words means. I once saw a sign in a parking lot that said \<“No” skateboarding!\> So, actually they think it’s OK to skateboard there as long as you’re not so obnoxious about it that they can’t pretend they didn’t know. > > –Cliffy You would probably like the one that was posted on the side of the Winn Dixie in the town (college town, no less) I used to live in: Skateboarding “strickly” prohibited! One thing I’ve never understood about the apostrophed plurals is…how does the writer decide what to apostrophize? I’ve never actually seen a piece of writing in which all the plurals had apostrophes, so what is the rule inside their head? ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2005, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessives-are-not-plurals/318277/45 "2005-08-27T22:46:23Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > The other thing that gets me is when people use quote marks around individual words to express emphasis, which isn’t what quote marks around individual words means. I once saw a sign in a parking lot that said \<“No” skateboarding!\> So, actually they think it’s OK to skateboard there as long as you’re not so obnoxious about it that they can’t pretend they didn’t know. > > –Cliffy Every time I get a birthday card from my in-laws, I have to giggle a little. They always sign it “Love” from Mom and Dad “D”. It always feels as if I’m getting a card from some mysterious couple who don’t really love me. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2005, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessives-are-not-plurals/318277/46 "2005-08-27T22:58:05Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > Every time I get a birthday card from my in-laws, I have to giggle a little. They always sign it “Love” from Mom and Dad “D”. Until I read this I’d completely forgotten: before she died, my grandmother had started signing birthday and Christmas cards as “Grandma.” I would laugh to myself while wondering if there was something she was trying to tell me… 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possessives-are-not-plurals/318277.md?page=2)