please empty your brain below
In spite of the grammatical mistake, this bus stop harks back to the eloquence of old transport notices with its use of the archaic "whilst". I well remember the signs on single-decker buses in the 1960s that read: "smokers are requested to occupy rear seats". Or in other words: "smokers sit at the back".

Waterhouse | 16.04.13 - 7:16 a.m. | #

Children must not occupy seats whilst Adult passengers are standing.

I always liked that one.

Lew | 16.04.13 - 7:37 a.m. | #

Oh Gawd, there should be a special place in hell for people who massacre possessive apostrophes. It is bad enough when it isn't in 'officialdom'.

Antipodean | 16.04.13 - 8:37 a.m. | #

Catching up with your blogs now I am back in UK. It was difficult whilst travelling.
At least the bus runs in Hainault, where I was in Spain the bus ran every hour, although I did not see many.

John | 16.04.13 - 8:43 a.m. | #

I suspect the person who prepared the notice was Dutch.....

Paul | 16.04.13 - 8:55 a.m. | #

What is weird is that this is a fairly standard notice and I have not spotted an apostrophe on other examples. One would have thought they would have had a standard stock of these - with the grammatically correct wording.

Pedantic of Purley | 16.04.13 - 8:58 a.m. | #

My favourite polite notice is in a pub toilet in Wheelock, in which the Birkenhead Brewery Company entreats:

The Proprietors earnestly hope that Patrons will use with care and consideration the facilities which have been provided for their convenience and comfort on these premises.

Sarah | Homepage | 16.04.13 - 9:04 a.m. | #

@ Sarah - You mean 'don't piss on the seat in Weelock?'

Antipodean | 16.04.13 - 9:05 a.m. | #

Its a mistake. A slip of the stencil. Id much rather the person responsible continues to help old ladie's across the street, rather than being sent to a compulsory reeducation camp and turned into a meticulous rule-follower.

Anyway, apostrophe's should probly be droped alltogther so-as we can work on importanter aspecs of litterasy.

Malcolm | 16.04.13 - 9:18 a.m. | #

In german we even do not use possessive apostrophes. We use apostrophes only when we left out letters for example while combining words comparable to the english "don't". But if you walk through our cities you can see violations of the rules on signs everywhere...

Michael | 16.04.13 - 9:23 a.m. | #

'No standing passengers in front of this notice' said the sign just behind the entrance door of Reading Corporation Transport buses in the 1970s. But there very often were.

Old Readingensian | 16.04.13 - 9:31 a.m. | #

All Aldershot & District busses in the 1960s had a stencilled sign which said "All season tickets must be shewn". I haven't seen that alternative for "shown" used anywhere else

BoneyBoy | 16.04.13 - 10:50 a.m. | #

Nearly 25 years ago I saw a huge sign in the window of the Oxford Street HMV that screamed about discounted CD's.

They've finally had their comeuppance.

Richard M | 16.04.13 - 10:54 a.m. | #

"Smokers sit at the back" - without punctuation that could be read as a commentary rather than an instruction.
Rather like "Police notice no parking", which suggests the local constabulary are in the habit of turning a blind eye to yellow line infringements



"Dogs must be carried: tickets must be shown"

- But I haven't got a dog to carry
- that's all right, sir, you only have to carry a dog if you have one with you.
- oh, that's good: because I haven't got a ticket either.

| 16.04.13 - 11:13 a.m. | #

BoneyBoy, the East Kent Road Car Company buses also used 'shewn' back in the 1960's. ('ve put the apostrophe in there because I think it's used to indicate omitted letters). Richard M, I thought that the HMV notice was correct because the apostrophe is standing in for "isc". Any comments?

RogerB | 16.04.13 - 11:18 a.m. | #

@ RogerB: In which case, shouldn't it be "C'D's"? But that could mean all sorts of other things - cross dressers, for instance. Thank goodness for the Apostrophe Protection Society (www.apostrophe.org.uk).

I too remember the old Aldershot and District Traction Company buses, which also had notices requesting "No spitting" :)

Tim | 16.04.13 - 11:27 a.m. | #

@ RogerB

I imagine the reason that an apostrophe was placed, incorrectly, in cases such as CD's was because there was a worry that, without it, it would read as CDS - and people would perhaps wonder, "What on earth does CDS stand for?"

The solution is simply to make the pluralising S smaller than the preceding letters.

And no, there's no apostrophe in 1960s either. Have a look under 'dates':
http://www.guardian.co.uk/styleguide/d

Richard M | 16.04.13 - 2:20 p.m. | #

Unless, of course, you wished to denote something which belonged to 1960:

1960's Olympic Games were held in Rome.

Though you'd be more likely to say:

The 1960 Olympic Games were held in Rome.

Richard M | 16.04.13 - 2:28 p.m. | #

I know someone who still writes 'shew' and 'shewn'. He is the Membership Secretary of the Historic Narrow Boat Club. I don't know if that's significant.

Sarah | Homepage | 16.04.13 - 3:48 p.m. | #

Ask him if he's ever been in a rewing boat.

Richard M | 16.04.13 - 5:05 p.m. | #

Shew: OED reckons it was "no uncommon" in the early 19th century, but now obsolete except in legal documents (along with hereinbefore and aforementioned).

Andrew | 16.04.13 - 5:22 p.m. | #

Shew, shewn, shewed. See the final episode of the BBC adaptation of John le Carre's 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy' in which the young schoolboy Jumbo trips over the word 'shewed' in Genesis 41:39: 'Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this...'

narrowboatspotter | 17.04.13 - 7:49 a.m. | #

George Bernard Shaw, who was an advocate of spelling reform, nevertheless used the 'shew' spelling.

Alan Burkitt-Gray | 18.04.13 - 12:13 p.m. | #











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