Album titles with Grammatical errors

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Aar Gal, Mar 25, 2020.

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  1. Rob Hughes

    Rob Hughes Forum Resident

    Well, you can use "banquet" as a verb, not just as a noun. It's what those beggars do.
    Ditto "brew". It's what these bitches do.
     
  2. Al Gator

    Al Gator You can call me Al

    True. Haven't thought of that.
     
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  3. Aar Gal

    Aar Gal Monkberry Moon Delight Thread Starter

    Location:
    Virginia
    It certainly is. It’s the reissued version. That’s part of my Genesis shelves
     
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  4. Crimson Witch

    Crimson Witch Roll across the floor thru the hole & out the door

    Location:
    Lower Michigan
    English is a remarkably nuanced language.
     
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  5. Aar Gal

    Aar Gal Monkberry Moon Delight Thread Starter

    Location:
    Virginia
    It certainly is... here is an example of a grammatically correct sentence in American English


    Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo
     
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  6. PJayBe

    PJayBe Forum Resident

    If we're going with spelling mistakes, the original CD of Fairport Convention's Liege and Lief had Liege and Life on the spine. Clearly not the band's error, but a printing one, but it's there nonetheless.
     
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  7. mr.datsun

    mr.datsun Incompletist

    Location:
    London
    I think because the sentence means that each member of the family wishes 'you a merry christmas', so a plural verb could be correct.
     
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  8. blind_melon1

    blind_melon1 An erotic adventurer of the most deranged kind....

    Location:
    Australia
    It also is written around the outside of the £2 coin, in both grammatically correct and incorrect (as per the Oasis LP) variants. Which was a new coin around the time Oasis were recording SOTSOG.
     
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  9. Deek57

    Deek57 Forum Resident

    Why ? Rolling Stones "check" Beggars (plural) "check" Banquet "check" RSVP "check".
     
  10. Zack

    Zack Senior Member

    Location:
    Easton, MD
    Sounds a more likely source than Bernard of Chartres, esteemed a scholar as Noel may be.
     
  11. tim_neely

    tim_neely Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Central VA
    That said, the album title, though incorrect in American English, is perfectly fine in British English.
     
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  12. AlmostHeavenWV

    AlmostHeavenWV The poster formerly known as AlmostHeavenWV

    Location:
    Lancaster UK
    Van der Graaf Generator - H to He Who am the Only One.

    The 'H to He' bit is explained as "The fusion of Hydrogen (H) nuclei to form Helium (He) nuclei is the basic exothermic reaction in the sun and stars, and hence is the prime energy source in the universe," but "Who am the Only One"? I've always felt that there must be an explanation of this, because it was presumably Peter Hammill who came up with the album title.
     
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  13. Jarleboy

    Jarleboy Music was my first love

    Location:
    Norway
    Different usage in US English and UK English, though?
     
  14. Crimson Witch

    Crimson Witch Roll across the floor thru the hole & out the door

    Location:
    Lower Michigan
    So I've herd.
     
  15. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    In US usage, a plural verb is only used to denote individual members of a collective doing different things. For example, if you said:
    "The family drive to work in separate cars every morning" the plural verb "drive" is correct. But if you say "The family drives to work together in the same car every morning" then it should be the singular verb "drives." In this case, every member of the family is doing the same thing (wishing a merry Christmas) so the singular verb should be used.

    Well, they are Americans and Reprise was an American company, so they should speak American, dammit.

    Seriously though, the British usage just does not sound right to me, juxtaposing a singular noun with a plural verb. And to my knowledge Sinatra never used British spellings on his albums, so it doesn't make sense to employ British usage in this case.
     
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  16. Bob F

    Bob F Senior Member

    Location:
    Massachusetts USA
    It had nothing to do with correct usage, dammit. :D

    It’s a play on the song title “We Wish You a Merry Christmas!”
     
  17. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    Yeah, I know. But it doesn't have to ungrammatical to work. If it had been a Frank solo album, I doubt he would have called it "Frank Sinata Wish You A Merry Christmas."
     
  18. Bob F

    Bob F Senior Member

    Location:
    Massachusetts USA
    I wish this perennial argument would go its merry way.
     
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  19. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    Well, I wish that people wouldn't post in threads if they are tired/bored/annoyed by the thread topic. I guess neither one of us is going to get his wish.
     
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  20. Aftermath

    Aftermath Senior Member

    Ijahman - Are We A Warrior

    [​IMG]
     
  21. mr.datsun

    mr.datsun Incompletist

    Location:
    London
    That's clearly wrong, the other is not clearly wrong.
     
    Last edited: Mar 26, 2020
  22. Marc Perman

    Marc Perman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Not an album title but since dinner often follows an afternoon of record shopping, there's Tony's di Napoli, a restaurant in New York. It continues to bug me even though I haven't lived in NY for ten years.
     
  23. Chemguy

    Chemguy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Western Canada
    Only if his last name is “Giants”, actually.

    :)
     
  24. Terrapin Station

    Terrapin Station Master Guns

    Location:
    NYC Man/Joy-Z City
    Re "The family wish you a Merry Christmas"--that suggests that each one of them wishes you a Merry Christmas.

    "The family wishes you a Merry Christmas" suggests that they wish you a Merry Christmas in unison, as "one voice."

    So it just depends on what you want to imply.
     
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  25. thxphotog

    thxphotog Camera Nerd Cycling Nerd Guitar Nerd Dietary Nerd

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    I still do.
     
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