December 4th, 2006
NY Times: Tsk.. tsk…
Posted by
Administrator in
Will Atkinson
In a review for Gwen Stefani’s new album, I noted the following gem by “The Grey Lady’s Pop Music Man,” Jon Pareles:
Her music is polarized to match the lyrics: either sparsely rhythmic tracks where she chants as much as she sings, or pop songs that aim for choruses as catchy as Madonna’s 1980’s chart busters.
Madonna’s 1980’s chart busters, eh? First of all, 1980 is used in the possessive form. In the context of “chart busters,” it would indicate Madonna released multiple albums in 1980. Unfortunately for the NY Times’ copy editors, Madonna did not release her debut album until 1983. Ouch…
on December 5th, 2006 at 12:55 am
It’s OK to be possessive in that context…I think the rub lies in that it’s *singular* possessive.
on December 5th, 2006 at 5:37 pm
You are correct. My contention lies with logic implied by the apostrophe usage. “1980’s” indicates “of 1980.” 1980s’, on the other hand, would refer to the entire decade in possessive.
I thought it an interesting mistake, seeing as Madonna did not release any work until 1983.
And yes, my rub is the singular usage, which I duly pointed out in the blog post.
on December 6th, 2006 at 2:34 pm
I would conjecture duly implied, not pointed out.
Despite this splitting of hairs, I do believe that this was quite the observation that few would have picked up on.