RE: Tell me I'm wrong: BMW M5

[braddo]

9mm said:

You are wrong.

Is the Oxford dictionary wrong? The only stated exception is to use an apostrophe for the plural of single letters or numbers (e.g. how many a's in apostrophe).

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/words/apostrophe

[RoverP6B]

E65Ross said:

I think it's for a few reasons... Cooling, I think it helps with the brakes and also use air ducts to help to get smoother air flow around the wheel arches.

When the temperature's down around freezing point, I'm in an absolute pea-souper and so daren't drive at more than 30mph or so, I want some bloody foglamps, sod the smoother airflow and sod the high-speed cooling! I would imagine a lot of people buy M5s as their only car, an all-weather year-round daily driver - something like that could become a serious irritation. Oh well, I suppose you could clip a bunch of rally-style Cibies to the radiator grille and REALLY upset the airflow!

[Leins]

How the hell did we get from this:



to this?

[9mm]

braddo said:

9mm said:

You are wrong.

Is the Oxford dictionary wrong? The only stated exception is to use an apostrophe for the plural of single letters or numbers (e.g. how many a's in apostrophe).

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/words/apostrophe

How many exceptions do you need? Statements were made that apostrophes are NEVER used with plurals. That's incorrect and thanks for providing an example.

Rover - please note the example given.

Say sorry and acknowledge your mistake when you're ready.

[braddo]

9mm said:

How many exceptions do you need? Statements were made that apostrophes are NEVER used with plurals. That's incorrect and thanks for providing an example.

Rover - please note the example given.

Say sorry and acknowledge your mistake when you're ready.

I would guess you'll have to apologise first and acknowledge that your use of apostrophes in plurals was wrong.

Anyway, I think the E34 is my favourite of all the M5s.

[RoverP6B]

braddo said:

Is the Oxford dictionary wrong? The only stated exception is to use an apostrophe for the plural of single letters or numbers (e.g. how many a's in apostrophe).

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/words/apostrophe

OED is frequently wrong. I seem to recall them promoting '-ize' in place of '-ise' a few years ago. Personally, I would never say that there are two a's in 'calamity'. There are two As in 'calamity'. The mid-sentence capitalisation is all that is required to denote that it is a plural of the letter A, not the word 'as'.

Edited by RoverP6B on Wednesday 29th January 16:51

[RobM77]

RoverP6B said:

braddo said:

Is the Oxford dictionary wrong? The only stated exception is to use an apostrophe for the plural of single letters or numbers (e.g. how many a's in apostrophe).

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/words/apostrophe

OED is frequently wrong. I seem to recall them promoting '-ize' in place of '-ise' a few years ago.

That's a long running argument isn't it? I seem to recall Morse once seeing that someone had used "ize" in a suicide note or similar and deducing he was from Oxford

[9mm]

braddo said:

9mm said:

How many exceptions do you need? Statements were made that apostrophes are NEVER used with plurals. That's incorrect and thanks for providing an example.

Rover - please note the example given.

Say sorry and acknowledge your mistake when you're ready.

I would guess you'll have to apologise first and acknowledge that your use of apostrophes in plurals was wrong.

Anyway, I think the E34 is my favourite of all the M5s.

It is gutting to be wrong but some people are going to have to swallow their pride.

E39 in carbon black is hard to beat and I think it had the best wheels.

[Contigo]

Try selling one, mine has been up for sale for 5 months now. I bought it within an hour of seeing it! Is no one spontaneous these days?

[braddo]

RoverP6B said:

OED is frequently wrong. I seem to recall them promoting '-ize' in place of '-ise' a few years ago. Personally, I would never say that there are two a's in 'calamity'. There are two As in 'calamity'. The mid-sentence capitalisation is all that is required to denote that it is a plural of the letter A, not the word 'as'.

Edited by RoverP6B on Wednesday 29th January 16:51

Depending on the font, crossing the Ts and dotting the Is might read a bit awkwardly though.

[9mm]

braddo said:

RoverP6B said:

OED is frequently wrong. I seem to recall them promoting '-ize' in place of '-ise' a few years ago. Personally, I would never say that there are two a's in 'calamity'. There are two As in 'calamity'. The mid-sentence capitalisation is all that is required to denote that it is a plural of the letter A, not the word 'as'.

Edited by RoverP6B on Wednesday 29th January 16:51

Depending on the font, crossing the Ts and dotting the Is might read a bit awkwardly though.

That's the point! The above sentence jars when written as quoted. Use a couple of apostrophes, no need for capitals, and it reads perfectly.

[Devil2575]

I'd love an E39 of any sort but an M5 especially. I used to own an E39 530i Sport and it's the car I most regret selling.

Sadly changing my old diesel Focus stbox is not a priority at the moment so it'll have to wait.

[RoverP6B]

Contigo said:

Try selling one, mine has been up for sale for 5 months now. I bought it within an hour of seeing it! Is no one spontaneous these days?

What generation, what mileage and how much money?

[Targarama]

Devil2575 said:

I'd love an E39 of any sort but an M5 especially. I used to own an E39 530i Sport and it's the car I most regret selling.

Sadly changing my old diesel Focus stbox is not a priority at the moment so it'll have to wait.

Thanks. Comments like this help me stop thinking about changing from my E39 530i. It will need around £800 spending on it next month (Front suspension, oil change, MOT, creak from rear suspension), but I love it, its like a faithful pet or your favourite clothing.

[RoverP6B]

Targarama said:

Comments like this help me stop thinking about changing from my E39 530i. It will need around £800 spending on it next month (Front suspension, oil change, MOT, creak from rear suspension), but I love it, its like a faithful pet or your favourite clothing.

Ditto my 520i Touring. It's glacially slow to 30mph, it's not the most fabulously reliable car I've had and it needs quite a bit doing to it - springs, dampers, rear suspension top-arms - but trying to find a better car to replace it, that I could be as fond of, has not been a fruitful search...

[NomduJour]

Zod said:

Whilst I find the whole engine noise thing bizarre and vaguely quixotic, there is a common misunderstanding here: it is the sound of the actual engine that is piped into the cabin, not something artificial.

It absolutely is not. It is completely fake, computer-generated.

[Zod]

NomduJour said:

Zod said:

Whilst I find the whole engine noise thing bizarre and vaguely quixotic, there is a common misunderstanding here: it is the sound of the actual engine that is piped into the cabin, not something artificial.

It absolutely is not. It is completely fake, computer-generated.

OK research tells me that it is the sound of an M5 engine at the same rev level as the engine's current rev level. That's like me sitting at my desk with an array of recordings of myself saying everything I could conceivable ever need to say on the phone and pressing a button to play the recording rather than say it myself. If the reproduction was perfect, you might never know the difference, but what's the point?

Edited by Zod on Thursday 30th January 10:56

[RoverP6B]

The point is the principle: it's a deception, not the real thing. Would you be happy paying a lot of money for your/your offspring's wedding or a relative's funeral or whatever (the presumption here being that said ceremony is being held in a church), only to find the organist isn't playing a real organ, but an electronic imitation thereof? Or you went to hear a concert pianist at the Wigmore Hall or the Royal Festival Hall (or name your other venue), only to find they were playing a clavinova or a Fender Rhodes type thing, plugged into the hall's PA system? Whether it's a musical instrument or a car engine, there is never any substitute for the real thing.

[Andy M]

RoverP6B said:

The point is the principle: it's a deception, not the real thing.

Like Mercedes putting 6.3 litre engine badges on the SLS, E63, C63 even though the engine is a 6.2?

Is that deception?

[Amirhussain]

Andy M said:

RoverP6B said:

The point is the principle: it's a deception, not the real thing.

Like Mercedes putting 6.3 litre engine badges on the SLS, E63, C63 even though the engine is a 6.2?

Is that deception?

Actually the E63 is a 5.5 litre!