Posted by Ernest__CT on 7/4/06 1:38am
Msg #130670

Your Web Site

If you are going to advertise yourself as a professional, please spell and punctuate properly on your Site. The plural of "attorney" is not "attorney's". S appears three times in the name of the RTC period; c appears once, as does e. And for Pete's sake, the plural of "Notary Public" never will be "Notary Publics"!

While we may make slips when we Post, we should take great care with our advertising.

Reply by PAW on 7/4/06 6:01am
Msg #130677

The Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law (© 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.) actually does list "Notary Publics" as the inflected form for the plural. However, it is, imo and I am not an English major by any stretch of the imagination, not grammatically correct. In typical American usage, collective nouns are shown in the singular, even when referring to a collection or group.

Reply by BarbaraL_CA on 7/4/06 11:30am
Msg #130705

also.. we are a Notary Public, not a Notary Republic! I've seen that on websites also.

Reply by MichiganAl on 7/4/06 5:32pm
Msg #130754

We are Notary Republics.

That's why when the borrower gives an oath, we make them say "I Pledge Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Notary Republic, before which I stand."

Reply by BrendaTx on 7/4/06 8:31pm
Msg #130773

Re: We are Notary Republics - correction Al

Notary Republicans OR Notary Pubics. Either is acceptable spelling.

Reply by MistarellaFL on 7/5/06 10:20am
Msg #130846

A few months ago, I had a client who was required to have me swear him in for a telephonic hearing: The COURT PAPERS read to hire a NOTARY REPUBLIC!
LMAO! (Palm Beach county, I believe)

Reply by Ernest__CT on 7/5/06 7:44am
Msg #130818

Dictionaries are ...

... descriptive, not prescriptive, I've been told. They often report usages which are substandard, but don't necessarily note them as such.

I wish I were a lexicographer! There are so many errors in dictionaries (and encyclopedias) these days that I can't trust any one book. (Well, let me rephrase that. There is one Book that I can trust, but that's another story.) I find that I need to check at least three dictionaries before I believe a definition of a word I don't know.

Reply by BrendaTx on 7/5/06 8:11am
Msg #130822

OT Dictionaries are ... Ernest

Ernest...let me first say that I totally agree with your assessment of the Notaries Public issue even though what Paul posted is true. I think his post indicates that he agrees also with correct spelling not being Notary Publics.

The sad thing is that "no one" really cares any more. Too much reading to be done. Too much writing to be done, I suppose.

I loaned a computer to a college student for awhile while she was in her third year. When I got it back some of her college paper writings were still on the computer, though I did not realize they were hers a year later. When I brought the computer back online for my own usage I opened one of her files. The first thing that jumped out at me was incorrect usage of a word in the first line. It was something like too vs. to.

Knowing her grades were extremely high, I sadly recognized that this was a quiet testament to the fact that it's just not that important any more. The old curmudgeons like us will keep on laboring away in a desire to be correct...to know precisely the right way to use the language, and then we'll die out. I predict that written communication will just become straight communication. Spelling will not matter and neither will proper word or tense usage.

Since I read so much online, I have become less aware of how to be correct, or when I am incorrect. My spelling is poor and my written communication is lax. Sometimes I just feel it is a losing battle. I try to pick my battles carefully to make sure my "fight" is left with an edge for places I might actually be able to do some good.

This is just an observation and a musing, and not to be construed as argument or disagreement. I agree with you! But while I think about this situation, I cannot help but wonder if it is like fighting against the appearance of personal computers in the business world. At one time, I had a private battle going on with that. I wanted my typewriter on my desk, not a keyboard.

I learned to accept that I had to put effort into learning the way of the computer age. This is another one of those uncontrollable tides. It's coming and there's not much I see which can stop it.