Please tell me the title of this new card is some cunning play on words and not a basic grammatical error that somehow got past your expert editors. If the former, I would be grateful if someone could explain it for me as it's apparently flown right over my head.
"Finder's Keeper's"?
It is grammatical completely correct since it is a phrase which means "Who finds it, may keep it."
Morthai said:
It is grammatical completely correct since it is a phrase which means "Who finds it, may keep it."
Yes, the phrase "Finders Keepers" means this; "Finder's Keeper's" is an example of incorrect apostrophe usage.
BOOM! FFG editors strike again.
magicWALLIS said:
BOOM! FFG editors strike again.
The sad thing is that the game's already been printed and is now on the way here. If only they had revealed this card earlier, fans would've done the editors' jobs for them. Put up something like watermarked card and rulebook pdf proofs and get free grammar checking from FFG forums and BGG? Or hire someone with a better grasp of written Engrish, please.
That jumped out at me too. You could maybe argue that the phrase is referring to possession so it should therefore have the apostrophes (i.e. the finder's item becomes the keeper's item). But, they seem to be mistaking literal possession with grammatical possession. The common sense interpretation of the phrase is merely labeling finders as keepers in general so the apostrophes are inappropriate.
So, yeah, I'd agree that it's wrong, and jarringly so to be honest. Furthermore, the dictionary agrees.
Einlanzer80 said:
That jumped out at me too. You could maybe argue that the phrase is referring to possession so it should therefore have the apostrophes (i.e. the finder's item becomes the keeper's item). But, they seem to be mistaking literal possession with grammatical possession. The common sense interpretation of the phrase is merely labeling finders as keepers in general so the apostrophes are inappropriate.
So, yeah, I'd agree that it's wrong, and jarringly so to be honest. Furthermore, the dictionary agrees.
Oh yeah, believe me, I tried to look at it from every angle. It might be more appropriate if it wasn't such a common phrase? It almost kinda makes sense, but I can't quite bring myself to think it wasn't a mistake of the kind all of us make from time to time. But what I find disappointing is that not only did the original writer of this card not catch it but nobody who saw it thought to question the card title with "hey, are you sure you meant to put apostrophes here?"
No errors spotted in Trollfens thus far, however! Here's hoping my uncontrollable grammar nazi OCD won't force me to throw out any cards the next time around.
Maybe the original writer is just a fan of Charles Mintz: