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Funimation needs to check *its* grammar


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Zalis116
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Joined: 31 Mar 2005
Posts: 6900
Location: Kazune City
PostPosted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 5:05 am Reply with quote
*apologizes in advance for pointless post*
[stupid rant]So, I was posting on another thread, and see one of Funimation's ads for Speed Grapher, which contains the line, "Smile for the camera...or perish in *it's* lens." Now, I do recall learning in elementary school that "it's" either means "it is" or "it has," and "its" works like the words his/her to refer to something belonging to "it." For some reason, it irks me to see these kinds of mistakes in "official" places like signs, advertisements, and subtitles. Of course, even the better fansubs make some it's/its errors, and unfortunately, I've seen the same thing on a few official DVDs. Then again, I shouldn't be surprised to see this coming from Funimation*, since according to their Fruits Basket subtitles, "their's" is a word (Theirs, yes, but no apostrophe.) ; episode #15, see for yourself.[/stupid rant] So, in a desperate attempt to keep this thread on-topic, I'll ask this: have any of you die-hard grammarians out there seen simple errors in official anime/manga products that raised the ol' blood pressure? Sadly, "official" does not always equal "professional," as the RahXephon Novels will testify.
*I'm not a Funimation-hater; I like their series choices and presentation, but I have noticed these problems from them, though it's not like they're the only ones.
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abunai
Old Regular


Joined: 05 Mar 2004
Posts: 5463
Location: 露命
PostPosted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 8:03 am Reply with quote
Bob the Angry Flower said it better than I ever can:

Plural's

Bob's Guide to the Apostrophe, You Idiots

Destroy the Apostrophe

- abunai
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@



Joined: 14 Feb 2006
Posts: 3498
Location: IN your nightmares
PostPosted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 12:35 pm Reply with quote
I have a particular pet peeve with the their/they're/there confusion, which I see alot in both fan and professionally produced subtitled anime, not to mention instant messaging and forum posts. So in an effort to help at least the members who may have been snoozing during most of 4th and 5th grade, here are a few examples:

They're going to the circus tomorrow (combination of they and are)...

I talked to my friends about driving but their (talking about an object owned by 2 or more people) car is not running...

There is train that goes there (talking about the existence of something or a location).

EDIT: and see, I didn't use any confusing grammatical jargon.


Last edited by P€|\||§_|\/|ast@ on Wed Jun 21, 2006 9:10 pm; edited 1 time in total
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hentai4me



Joined: 25 Oct 2005
Posts: 1313
Location: England. Robin is so Cute!
PostPosted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 1:03 pm Reply with quote
abunai wrote:
Bob the Angry Flower said it better than I ever can:

Plural's

Bob's Guide to the Apostrophe, You Idiots

Destroy the Apostrophe

- abunai


There's (note, it's joining two words together there!) a problem with the 'Destroy the Apostrophe' one.

'Evil' version:-
Don't move! The dog's crazy for the cat's food! She'll bite you!

'Good' version:-
Dont move! The dogs crazy for the cats food! Shell bite you!

the highlighted words are incorrect without apostrophes!

they need to be re-written as

'Do Not'
and
'She Will'

In these cases the apostrophe is replacing one or more letters to allow two words to be joined together, without them the sentence is wrong anyway...

A better rule would be:-
'Apostrophes are only to be used when in a possesive or condensement context'

its not great but it should eliminate incorrect use of them...
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NeonGEvangelion



Joined: 20 Jan 2006
Posts: 141
Location: El Paso TX
PostPosted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 1:06 pm Reply with quote
People make mistakes, dont harp about it and move on with life. There is no sense is harping over something that is really irrelevent.
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frentymon
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Joined: 27 Nov 2005
Posts: 2362
Location: San Francisco
PostPosted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 1:11 pm Reply with quote
Errors with your/you're usage are seen everywhere. Fansubs, professional subs, blogs, forums...I can forgive them in fansubs/forums/blogs, but when it comes to professional stuff, they shouldn't be making errors like that. For approx. $7 an episode here for purchase, it should be pretty much 100% error free.

Also, these errors somewhat discredit posts in debates and arguments and stuff like that.

"your prety stupid u noe"

My Pretty Stupid I Know?
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hentai4me



Joined: 25 Oct 2005
Posts: 1313
Location: England. Robin is so Cute!
PostPosted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 1:25 pm Reply with quote
NeonGEvangelion wrote:
People make mistakes, don't harp about it and move on with life. There is no sense is harping over something that is really irrelevent.


Irrelevant in this particular example yes.

But what if the mistake leads to an ambiguous statement or a statement that doesn't say what it's meant to mean?

For professional things exactness and correct usage of grammar, spelling (No Americanisation when in England! PLEASE! There IS a 'u' in colour...) and the like is essential simply because not doing so makes you lokk unprofessional.

For example lets browse my 'Spam' mail. I get 5 or 6 e-mails a day advertising for (and this is a direct copy and paste)

'Vliagra! Cheep, Eazy. No Prelscription's requird.'

Now(not that I was actually planning on buying ANY drugs online) I would NEVER buy anything with as much potential for harmful effects from someone who demonstrated such 'masterful' control of the English language (I actually think it's tantamount to impossible to do it THAT badly without intending to...).
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abunai
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Joined: 05 Mar 2004
Posts: 5463
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 3:07 pm Reply with quote
hentai4me wrote:
For example lets browse my 'Spam' mail. I get 5 or 6 e-mails a day advertising for (and this is a direct copy and paste)

'Vliagra! Cheep, Eazy. No Prelscription's requird.'

Now(not that I was actually planning on buying ANY drugs online) I would NEVER buy anything with as much potential for harmful effects from someone who demonstrated such 'masterful' control of the English language (I actually think it's tantamount to impossible to do it THAT badly without intending to...).

No, that's deliberate, I think -- because you can make sense of it, whereas a spamfilter trained to react to "Viagra" may not trigger on "Vliagra" as the same keyword.

As for the many misspellings, you have to understand that many people have a less than solid grasp on orthography (among other things), and will often not even realize that something is wrong with the spelling of that example. And, if I may be allowed a moment of intellectual snobbery, it is precisely those people who are most likely to be stupid enough to fall for such a marketing scheme.

- abunai
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Nirvana



Joined: 30 Apr 2005
Posts: 261
PostPosted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 4:02 pm Reply with quote
One thing that bugs me is that I find fansubs to be more grammatically correct most of the time than pro subs... which is quite pathetic.
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prettygirl



Joined: 16 Nov 2005
Posts: 127
Location: too far from home...
PostPosted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 4:20 pm Reply with quote
Nirvana wrote:
One thing that bugs me is that I find fansubs to be more grammatically correct most of the time than pro subs... which is quite pathetic.


Ha ha ha Laughing So true, so true!!!
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PantsGoblin
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Encyclopedia Editor


Joined: 27 Jun 2005
Posts: 2969
Location: L.A.
PostPosted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 4:46 pm Reply with quote
prettygirl wrote:
Nirvana wrote:
One thing that bugs me is that I find fansubs to be more grammatically correct most of the time than pro subs... which is quite pathetic.


Ha ha ha Laughing So true, so true!!!


In addition to that (although less noticeable, but probably more important), is how R1 DVDs often miscredit or mispell the staff and cast in the credits. I've added a bunch to the encyclopedia, it happens quite often unfortunetly.
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v1cious



Joined: 31 Dec 2002
Posts: 6227
Location: Houston, TX
PostPosted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 5:04 pm Reply with quote
abunai wrote:
Bob the Angry Flower said it better than I ever can:

Plural's

Bob's Guide to the Apostrophe, You Idiots

Destroy the Apostrophe

- abunai


i agree. the apostrophe's for lazy people.
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Cloe
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Joined: 18 Feb 2004
Posts: 2728
Location: Los Angeles, CA
PostPosted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 5:33 pm Reply with quote
v1cious wrote:
i agree. the apostrophe's for lazy people.

Har har har. (That was intentional, right?)

The its/it's and their/they're/there are my top grammar peeves. I know they are small mistakes, but seeing them SO often, especially in the context of subtitles or in professional writing, grows insufferably irksome.
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one3rd



Joined: 28 Jul 2003
Posts: 1818
Location: アメリカ
PostPosted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 10:15 pm Reply with quote
prettygirl wrote:
Nirvana wrote:
One thing that bugs me is that I find fansubs to be more grammatically correct most of the time than pro subs... which is quite pathetic.


Ha ha ha Laughing So true, so true!!!


Which part, exactly, wa's true?
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RezSav



Joined: 06 Jun 2004
Posts: 542
PostPosted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 10:22 pm Reply with quote
Zalis116 wrote:
Now, I do recall learning in elementary school that "it's" either means "it is" or "it has," and "its" works like the words his/her to refer to something belonging to "it."


Come on, we all can't have the same teachers
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