Wednesday night we went out to dinner with some friends of ours. We were "recruiting" them to come and work at my husband's firm. I am beginning to wish that I could recruit people once a week it was so yummy.
We ate at Ruth's Chris. Have any of you eaten there? I never had until last night, but it was worth the wait!!! It's a steak house and it's way out of the price we normally spend to eat out (think Panda Express $12 for the whole family), but when you're not paying, why not? I had the Ruth's Chris salad, filet and a side of Au Gratin potatoes. Of course I saved room for dessert which was a delicious creme brulee.
The only thing that could've been better is the name. Seriously, as an English major, what the heck kind of name is that? Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. So.... what does that mean? Ruth's Chris would mean that Chris belongs to Ruth, okay that makes sense. Now, we've established the Chris is Ruth's, but what is the Chris? Does Chris mean restaurant in some language? That wouldn't make sense either since its Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. This is some complex English enigma.
I get really annoyed at these businesses that don't do the apostrophe correctly. You know you've seen it everywhere! Bobs Paint and Supply. So, how many Bobs work there? Oh wait, you mean Bob owns the store? Did you know there's actually a way to signify such ownership and it's oh so easy to do? I realize with items such as Chris paint and supply it gets tricker to navigate--those darn s's and I also realize that the rules behind grammar are changed through the course of time and usage, but some things must be respected.
So, now that you've heard me out, just explain it to me! And, for future use--(feel free to ignore this portion of my blog, it's for my own self-soothing and reassurance).
The Apostrophe's Usage:
1. To Show Possession
Apostrophes can be used to show possession.
Singular possessive- add 's to the end of a singular noun to show possession
the book's cover
Mom's oven
If the word already ends in s, just add a '
Mr. Bates' cat
Mr. Bates' cat
In compound nouns, place the apostrophe in the last word.
John and Cassie's house
John and Cassie's house
Plural possessive- add ' to the end of a plural noun
managers' instructions
dogs' bones
2. In Contractions
Use apostrophes in contractions to show missing letters.
don't (do not)
I'd (I would)
Who's (who is)
3. To Make Plurals
Use apostrophes to make plurals for numbers, letters, and symbols that don't have plurals.
11's
A's, B's, and C's
do's and don'ts
4. To Show Dialects
Use apostrophes to show dialects or unusual English.
'd ye s'ppose ye 'ave
5. In Dates
Use apostrophes in dates to show missing numbers.
'69
'04
6. In Time or Quantity
Use apostrophes in amounts, times, or quantities.
three day's worth
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11 comments:
Thanks for the English lesson Audrey! It never hurts to get a refresher course in the proper way to use an apostrophe!
So here's my question. If I want to say "We're going to the Foutzes for Christmas." Does it have to be Foutzes or can it be Foutz'?
Have you ever heard the "GrammarGirl"
Podcast?
So here's my question. If I want to say "We're going to the Foutzes for Christmas." Does it have to be Foutzes or can it be Foutz'?
Have you ever heard the "GrammarGirl"
Podcast?
wow, i feel smarter already! i think i do fairly well in this and yet my typing skills are hugely lacking and sometimes I just plain miss those typos before I Post. on comments it is too late and set in stone forever. and generally when posting on my own blog I am always running off to put out fires. from lack of child rearing and attention giving! grammar and punctuation sometimes goes by the wayside, while i still maintain blogging multiple times in a day.
Hello,
The short of it, Ruth Fertel purchased Chris Steak House (Chris being a person). The restaurant was fairly well known in the New Orleans area, so she kept the name, but wanted to add her touch. So it became Ruth's Chris Steak House.
Greg and I love Ruth Chris's. We only go there for special occasions, like anniversaries. Last year we went for our aniversary and they wished us a happy aniversary and gave us a free dessert! I just like going to formal dinners every once in awhile!
Ruth's Chris is one of our favorite steak houses! Luckily for Jarom it is also his bosses favorite too, so they so their fairly often. I love, love their sweet potato casserole. Now I know you are not a big fan of sweet potatoes. However, when you sweeten it up with heavy cream, gobs of butter and brown sugar you can't go wrong! As you probably noticed their sides are like a cabillion (well, maybe not that much) dollars for not a whole lot. This recipe makes about $ 100 or more in Ruth's Chris sweet potato casserole.
Ruth's Chris Sweet Potato Casserole
FOR THE CRUST:
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 cup chopped nuts (pecans preferred)
1/3 stick butter, melted
FOR THE SWEET POTATO MIXTURE:
3 cups mashed sweet potatoes
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs, well beaten
1 stick butter ( 1/2 cup), melted
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine brown sugar, flour, nuts and butter in mixing bowl. Set aside.
Combine sweet potatoes, sugar, salt, vanilla, eggs and butter in a mixing bowl in the order listed. Mix thoroughly. Pour mixture into buttered baking dish. Sprinkle the surface of the sweet potato mixture evenly with the crust mixture.
Bake for 30 minutes. Allow to set at least 30 minutes before serving
It drive's myself crazy when them uses such bad punctuation or gramr.
On a serious note, it really does bug.
I love Ruth's too. It bugs me worse when people call it Ruth Chris...I'm not sure why since I understand the history, but there is something about the two names ending with an "s" sound that bothers me. Now I'm paranoid that my last sentence was grammatical incorrect! I'm out!
Just finished this book, you've read it, right?
http://www.amazon.com/Eats-Shoots-Leaves-Tolerance-Punctuation/dp/1592402038
Hilarious!
I am going to have to study this! Don't look at my blog to closely!
I LOVE Ruth's Chris. I hate when restaurants are super expensive, and aren't worth it. Mortons may even be better...
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