Australian Trivia Only

[Greynomad]

Thanks, I think...

Try this one for size...
Not a where is it, but a WHAT is it?

Can you name the manufacturer of this amazing baby ute?
Bonus point if you can name the year (plus or minus a couple).

Mystery Ute.jpg

(Blow it up as far as you like, the badge is unreadable. )

[SteveW]

Mazda K360. 1959 or shortly thereafter. You thought you might trick me into saying Piaggio Ape! To be fair, it was made at a time when the Japanese were accused of copying other peoples' designs.

Would you have a go at correcting 'peoples'. It's something we say but which, I don't think should be written.

[BruceS]

Must be the Deluxe model Steve? Soft top!!
Did you know the answer or do research?

[SteveW]

Must be the Deluxe model Steve? Soft top!!
Did you know the answer or do research?

I knew it was not the Italian Job so I googled "3 wheeled Japanese truck".

[Greynomad]

So the winner is Mr Google!!

With a bonus point for getting the year right.

However, I'll allow you to be his proxy, Steve.

BTW 1: The Italian Job was all Minis... (Discounting the Land Rover and the buses.)

BTW 2: Peoples' with an s' is correct in this instance -- it's the plural possessive. The work of many people on many products was copied.
When the word ends with an s the apostrophe follows it as usual, but you don't add the usual following s.
As in: "Gus' lunch is in the brown bag." Gus's is incorrect.
The confusion arises in the spoken word, where it would be pronounced "Guses".

If you were referring to the work of one person, and using the convention of not identifying that person by referring to them as 'some people' then you would write that the Japanese had copied some people's work... with the apostrophe in the expected place.

End of English lesson. Class dismissed.

[SteveW]

Phew! Thanks. However, I have one more question. Can one ever turn the word 'people' into peoples' in the first place - give that people is a plural word? Should the sentence have been 'copying the work of other people' or similar?

[Greynomad]

Yes, Steve.
"Peoples" collectively refers to a number of races or nationalities (multiples of the American people, the Japanese people, African-American people, Chinese people, &/or Asian people etc).
So if you want to refer to several races you could say "Western Peoples", referring to perhaps the Europeans and Americans.
In the case of your previous post, the Japanese were accused of copying products from the Americans, British, French, Italians and Australians. (To name just a few! These days the Chinese are accused of the same crime.)
I therefore considered that you were referring to several peoples, which made your positioning of the apostrophe correct.

The singular "people" is the collective noun for persons. If you wish to use it in the possessive, it is "people's" as in, "The people's wish for law reform will be implemented." (Referring to all the people who voted at an election.)
Compare that with the (very PC) statement, "The wishes of the First Peoples (Aborigines, as there are many tribes/families of them) will be implemented." which would be otherwise expressed as "The First Peoples' wishes will be implemented."

See? Simple, isn't it!

(Should I complicate things by discussing "Aborigines' " and "Aborigine's"??? Nah. Another day... )



Normal transmission will now be resumed...

[Greynomad]

Steve,
It's still your turn to post something...

Bruce,

Given this diversion and that on another thread regarding use of the apostrophe on words ending in 's', maybe we need a separate page where people (singular ) could post doubtful examples of "English as she is writ"???

eg. The almost ubiquitous "Shotgun Apostrophe": seen in signs such as "Hamburger's for sale" ... "Today's Special's" and similar...

[BruceS]

haha ... sorry Ray! Trivia remains trivia regardless of where you put it!! Just like Black water etc ... haha

[SteveW]

,,,,,,,,,,,,

What Australian Animal lays eggs?