bjkeefe: Make it stop

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Make it stop

Bad moment at the grocery store (click to make it more obese):

Planter's Nuts, making all kind of excessive health claims

[ + ]

So, how many people are just going to be cramming handfuls of these, figuring they're Doing The Right Thing?

10 comments:

Ocean said...: 10 to 12 cashew nuts make a good snack of about 100 calories.

(If you can stop at that.); 6:32 PM, April 15, 2012
bjkeefe said...: The only way I'd stop at 10-12 cashews would be if that's all that was left.

But! In case that ever occurs, I now know they're Heart Healthy® and full of Bone Health® and just all around Wholesome®, so I will drive to the store and buy six cans more!

[My actual strategy concerning these and other indulgences is to allow myself to binge, guilt-free, but to try to decrease the frequency of said binging. (Bingeing?)]; 6:47 PM, April 15, 2012
Ocean said...: Bin-jing.

;); 6:52 PM, April 15, 2012
M. Bouffant said...: Handsful.; 7:05 PM, April 15, 2012
bjkeefe said...: Heh. Now that you mention it, seems like it might be!

But even though I am one of those people who annoying emphasizes attorneys-general and passersby, I have to say that this one doesn't quite ring true.

Also, {handsful | handfuls}. Guess which one gets the squiggly underline? Not that the Mozilla Foundation is the last word or anything, but they didn't flag either of the above, fwtw.; 7:16 PM, April 15, 2012
bjkeefe said...: ("Either of the above" meaning attorneys-general or passersby.); 7:40 PM, April 15, 2012
TC said...: Isn't this one of those collective noun issues where either can be correct depending on the intention of the writer? The jury is out or the jury are out. See the grammar monster:

http://www.grammar-monster.com/lessons/singular_plural_%20collective_noun.htm; 8:12 PM, April 15, 2012
TC said...: fwiw the OED and the World dictionary say it's handfuls

World English Dictionary
handful (ˈhændfʊl)

— n , pl -fuls
1. the amount or number that can be held in the hand
2. a small number or quantity
3. informal a person or thing difficult to manage or control

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source; 8:25 PM, April 15, 2012
bjkeefe said...: Thanks, TC.

I am aware of collective noun issue, both from sports (write the same sentence about the NY Knicks and the Miami Heat) and from the British, who will treat a collective noun as plural no matter how bad it sounds. ("Apple are releasing a new iPhone.")

However, I don't think that's the issue here. It's more like a noun-modifier thing, isn't it? So MB hears it as hands that are full, much like attorneys whose bailiwick is general or passers going by.

I, however, think a handful is just another container size: one cup, two cups, one truckload, two truckloads, one handful, two handfuls.

P.S. Crowdsourcing results.; 8:40 PM, April 15, 2012
Jack said...: Jesus. Did you know Planters is even doing a cross-promotion with the dumb magazine, Men's Health? They literally have a Men's Health can of nuts.; 6:20 PM, April 30, 2012

bjkeefe

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Make it stop

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