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Quick grammar questions

Blogs > MidasMulligan
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ecDIESEL
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
United States132 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-02-09 03:47:17
February 09 2011 03:46 GMT
#1
A friend of mine wrote "Fuck you, itunes." on her facebook.

Is that the correct way to word it, or should it say "Fuck you itunes."?

Would the comma there imply that itunes was saying "fuck you," or is either way acceptable?
Munk-E
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
United States672 Posts
February 09 2011 03:50 GMT
#2
No, comma is correct I'm pretty sure. It's directly addressing itunes and It's just a different order of "I-Tunes, fuck you"

I think at least, the more I think about it the more I doubt myself...
You recognise me because of my signature!
Euronyme
Profile Joined August 2010
Sweden3804 Posts
February 09 2011 03:51 GMT
#3
On February 09 2011 12:50 Munk-E wrote:
No, comma is correct I'm pretty sure. It's directly addressing itunes and It's just a different order of "I-Tunes, fuck you"

I think at least, the more I think about it the more I doubt myself...


Indeed, quite correct
I bet i can maı̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̨̨̨̨̨̨ke you wipe your screen.
ecDIESEL
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
United States132 Posts
February 09 2011 03:52 GMT
#4
I was thinking that it's sort of like what you see at the bottom of a letter. If it said "Thanks, tom," it means that tom was saying thanks, so saying "Fuck you, itunes" would be as if itunes were saying fuck you.

Also, I looked through the wikipedia article on comma rules, and I couldn't find anything that would suggest that putting a comma there was okay.
HULKAMANIA
Profile Blog Joined December 2004
United States1219 Posts
February 09 2011 03:52 GMT
#5
The comma is correct.

A comma is one way to indicate direct address in English, e.g.:

I love you, mom.

or

Billy Bob, did you see that UFO?
If it were not so, I would have told you.
ecDIESEL
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
United States132 Posts
February 09 2011 03:53 GMT
#6
On February 09 2011 12:52 HULKAMANIA wrote:
The comma is correct.

A comma is one way to indicate direct address in English, e.g.:

I love you, mom.

or

Billy Bob, did you see that UFO?


Shouldn't it just be "I love you mom"? If you saw "I love you, mom." at the end of a letter, wouldn't it mean your mom was saying I love you?
Malgrif
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
Canada1095 Posts
February 09 2011 03:55 GMT
#7
comma is correct. the non comma referential technique is usually just used by teenagers that don't know much better.
for there to be pro there has to be noob.
Noxie
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States2227 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-02-09 03:57:14
February 09 2011 03:56 GMT
#8
On February 09 2011 12:53 MidasMulligan wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 09 2011 12:52 HULKAMANIA wrote:
The comma is correct.

A comma is one way to indicate direct address in English, e.g.:

I love you, mom.

or

Billy Bob, did you see that UFO?


Shouldn't it just be "I love you mom"? If you saw "I love you, mom." at the end of a letter, wouldn't it mean your mom was saying I love you?


I get what you are saying, but honestly the "I love you, mom" quote would be if you were saying something to your mom, but indirectly. So going back to the original question. The comma is fine. However, if writing an email to itunes directly... I am pretty sure you can just write "Fuck you itunes".
VabuDeltaKaiser
Profile Joined April 2009
Germany1107 Posts
February 09 2011 03:58 GMT
#9
On February 09 2011 12:46 MidasMulligan wrote:
A friend of mine wrote "Fuck you, itunes." on her facebook.

Is that the correct way to word it, or should it say "Fuck you itunes."?

Would the comma there imply that itunes was saying "fuck you," or is either way acceptable?

rofl
my smiley drinks green tea. works. just, the commercial investments are lower.
Karliath
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States2214 Posts
February 09 2011 03:58 GMT
#10
No, because in this case, you = mom. This is an appositive term/phrase.

Take for example:

I hit the man, David.
(David is describing man.)

I hit David, the man who insulted me.
(The whole clause after the comma is describing who David is.)

A hot-tempered tennis player, Robbie charged the umpire and tried to crack the poor man's skull with a racket.

Robbie, a hot-tempered tennis player, charged the umpire and tried to crack the poor man's skull with a racket.

etc.

iTunes is clarifying who 'you' is.

synapse
Profile Blog Joined January 2009
China13814 Posts
February 09 2011 03:59 GMT
#11
Comma is correct.
:)
mikeymoo
Profile Blog Joined October 2006
Canada7170 Posts
February 09 2011 04:00 GMT
#12
At least blog it.
o_x | Ow. | 1003 ESPORTS dollars | If you have any questions about bans please PM Kennigit
ecDIESEL
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
United States132 Posts
February 09 2011 04:01 GMT
#13
On February 09 2011 12:58 Karliath wrote:
No, because in this case, you = mom. This is an appositive term/phrase.

Take for example:

I hit the man, David.
(David is describing man.)

I hit David, the man who insulted me.
(The whole clause after the comma is describing who David is.)

A hot-tempered tennis player, Robbie charged the umpire and tried to crack the poor man's skull with a racket.

Robbie, a hot-tempered tennis player, charged the umpire and tried to crack the poor man's skull with a racket.

etc.

iTunes is clarifying who 'you' is.


I see...

Would "fuck you itunes" also be a correct way to phrase it though?
FreezerJumps
Profile Joined May 2010
Canada653 Posts
February 09 2011 04:02 GMT
#14
OP, the comma useage you're thinking of is at the end of a sentence of dialogue. For example:

"I am an apple," said the apple.

Here, not only is the apple able to speak, but is also self-aware. This comma useage is different to the one you're asking about, though. The comma used in your example is correct.
ZuRbii
Profile Joined January 2011
United States58 Posts
February 09 2011 04:02 GMT
#15
It's correct with or without the comma. And saying that iTunes is saying fuck you because it comes after the comma doesn't make any sense.
Myles
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
United States5162 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-02-09 04:04:26
February 09 2011 04:02 GMT
#16
On February 09 2011 12:53 MidasMulligan wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 09 2011 12:52 HULKAMANIA wrote:
The comma is correct.

A comma is one way to indicate direct address in English, e.g.:

I love you, mom.

or

Billy Bob, did you see that UFO?


Shouldn't it just be "I love you mom"? If you saw "I love you, mom." at the end of a letter, wouldn't it mean your mom was saying I love you?


If it was

I love you,
Mom

then I would think it was my mother telling me she loves me. I've never seen someone write something with that as their meaning and not put it in that form. Putting the comma is correct grammar though it's always seemed kinda funny to me because commas are generally used to indicate a pause. When you say something and throw the name at the end I don't ever have a pause and it feels like I should write 'Fuck you Tom.' rather then the proper way.
Moderator
Lixler
Profile Joined March 2010
United States265 Posts
February 09 2011 04:04 GMT
#17
"Fuck you iTunes" without the comma is not correct. The comma is necessary to specify who is being talked to. Consider sentences such as "How are you doing Dad?" where without the comma ambiguity would be introduced.
Karliath
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States2214 Posts
February 09 2011 04:08 GMT
#18
On February 09 2011 13:04 Lixler wrote:
"Fuck you iTunes" without the comma is not correct. The comma is necessary to specify who is being talked to. Consider sentences such as "How are you doing Dad?" where without the comma ambiguity would be introduced.


To clarify, without the comma:

1. 'You' and 'Dad' are the same person.

or

2. The narrator is asking how 'you' (subject) is doing 'Dad' (object).
Fallen33
Profile Blog Joined April 2007
United States596 Posts
February 09 2011 04:15 GMT
#19
it's fuck you, itunes.
"Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever." - Napoleon Bonaparte ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
jon arbuckle
Profile Blog Joined November 2009
Canada443 Posts
February 09 2011 04:24 GMT
#20
Keep badmouthing iTunes like this and it'll ask me yet again if it should upgrade.
Mondays
HULKAMANIA
Profile Blog Joined December 2004
United States1219 Posts
February 09 2011 04:34 GMT
#21
On February 09 2011 12:53 MidasMulligan wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 09 2011 12:52 HULKAMANIA wrote:
The comma is correct.

A comma is one way to indicate direct address in English, e.g.:

I love you, mom.

or

Billy Bob, did you see that UFO?


Shouldn't it just be "I love you mom"? If you saw "I love you, mom." at the end of a letter, wouldn't it mean your mom was saying I love you?


No. Like I said, it should be "I love you, mom."

It's direct address, which commas typically set off. You're not going to find an airtight logical reason for it, but in Standard English using a comma there is 100% correct and omitting the comma is 100% wrong.

Just google "Commas in Direct Address."
If it were not so, I would have told you.
danl9rm
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States3111 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-02-09 04:45:58
February 09 2011 04:40 GMT
#22
why do people answer so confidently when it's clear they have no idea? i guess ignorance loves company as well?

either way is correct.

edit: not
"Science has so well established that the preborn baby in the womb is a living human being that most pro-choice activists have conceded the point. ..since the abortion proponents have lost the science argument, they are now advocating an existential one."
HULKAMANIA
Profile Blog Joined December 2004
United States1219 Posts
February 09 2011 04:44 GMT
#23
On February 09 2011 13:40 danl9rm wrote:
why do people answer so confidently when it's clear they have no idea? i guess ignorance loves company as well?

either way is correct.


To the extent that punctuation is fluid, contingent, arbitrary, etc. Either way is correct.

In the conventions of Standard English, the comma is 100% correct. It's pretty textbook, actually.
If it were not so, I would have told you.
29 fps
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
United States5724 Posts
February 09 2011 05:14 GMT
#24
when i first read the OP, i thought it was an indirect attack on itunes.

i think that having the comma is correct. plus, it adds that "pause" that comes naturally when you say that kind of phrase.
4v4 is a battle of who has the better computer.
ffdestiny
Profile Joined September 2010
United States773 Posts
February 09 2011 05:26 GMT
#25
I question your derisory capitulation on the grammar etiquette of Facebook.However what your apparently salient friend is trying or attempting to say is an expression in the form of the colloquial. Have you ever talked to someone in person and they sounded like this:

"I don't know"
"I know right"
"Totally"
"Yeah really"
Add to these set of exemplary examples: "Fuck you iTunes!"

Read more about these general types of statements in English: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interjection

They are not attempting to cultivate the grandiose elegance of high prose. They are merely stringing together a set of informal expressions that they heard on MTV or on Twitter (satire) and relating that to a conversation.
HULKAMANIA
Profile Blog Joined December 2004
United States1219 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-02-09 05:54:21
February 09 2011 05:52 GMT
#26
On February 09 2011 14:26 ffdestiny wrote:
I question your derisory capitulation on the grammar etiquette of Facebook.However what your apparently salient friend is trying or attempting to say is an expression in the form of the colloquial. Have you ever talked to someone in person and they sounded like this:

"I don't know"
"I know right"
"Totally"
"Yeah really"
Add to these set of exemplary examples: "Fuck you iTunes!"

Read more about these general types of statements in English: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interjection

They are not attempting to cultivate the grandiose elegance of high prose. They are merely stringing together a set of informal expressions that they heard on MTV or on Twitter (satire) and relating that to a conversation.


"these set of exemplary examples" eh?

btdubz, my friend, "Fuck you, iTunes!" is not an interjection, at least not in any conventional sense. It's standard direct address. So if you're looking for a traditional category for it, it's fairly close to apostrophe. Further, even if it were an interjection, it would still require the comma for direct address. Check the article you cited. Even the sentence-length interjections such as:

"Well, don't worry."
or
"Well! That's great!"

are fully punctuated, functional sentences in their own right.

If it were not so, I would have told you.
danl9rm
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States3111 Posts
February 09 2011 05:59 GMT
#27
On February 09 2011 13:44 HULKAMANIA wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 09 2011 13:40 danl9rm wrote:
why do people answer so confidently when it's clear they have no idea? i guess ignorance loves company as well?

either way is correct.


To the extent that punctuation is fluid, contingent, arbitrary, etc. Either way is correct.

In the conventions of Standard English, the comma is 100% correct. It's pretty textbook, actually.


I gotta comment on how innocent your post was. I think I love you?
"Science has so well established that the preborn baby in the womb is a living human being that most pro-choice activists have conceded the point. ..since the abortion proponents have lost the science argument, they are now advocating an existential one."
HULKAMANIA
Profile Blog Joined December 2004
United States1219 Posts
February 09 2011 06:05 GMT
#28
On February 09 2011 14:59 danl9rm wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 09 2011 13:44 HULKAMANIA wrote:
On February 09 2011 13:40 danl9rm wrote:
why do people answer so confidently when it's clear they have no idea? i guess ignorance loves company as well?

either way is correct.


To the extent that punctuation is fluid, contingent, arbitrary, etc. Either way is correct.

In the conventions of Standard English, the comma is 100% correct. It's pretty textbook, actually.


I gotta comment on how innocent your post was. I think I love you?


Hahahaha, I'm glad that you do.

But I think your edit takes the cake for post-of-the-thread. It was genius, and honestly it made my night.
If it were not so, I would have told you.
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