Stories that should have sequels!

A head's up is something that happens to female teachers in schools.

No not crazy. A good author can brings its characters to life. With this in mind, to end the series or story with things that are unfinished, is not correct and to the reader, possibly cruel. We the reader will gain a sense of compassion and a true loss will result. We almost morn for that character. Not crazy at all.

Speaking as an author, I believe it belongs there.

Goodgulf

I don't think the apostrophe belongs there. At least, I've never seen it used that way. "Heads" isn't a contraction of anything, and I don't see any real sense of possession which would warrant an apostrophe. But even if an argument is made that there IS possession, "giving someone a heads up" is an idiom, and idioms often don't follow the rules of grammar, and do not always make sense. So, IMHO, no apostrophe.

However, it SHOULD probably be hyphenated - as in "heads-up" - b/c of the way Goodgulf used it in his original post. I googled "heads up" because Hotspur's question piqued my interest (and, b/c I probably have too much time on my hands), and found this comment by a reader: "When used as a noun or an adjective, there is a hyphen; when used as a verb or interjection, there isn't." I think I agree with this. So, when Goodgulf's character said "Next time give me a heads up," the character was using "heads-up" as a noun. If the character shouted "Heads up!" (as probably happened in many of the last story challenge entries, as a ball broke the window, or the vase, or dented the car, or broke all 3 items at once) there would be no hyphen.

As always, I acknowledge - doing my best Dennis Miller impression - that this is just my opinion; I could be wrong.

Now, back to procrastinating about other things instead of writing a new story.

Ah, someone has triggered my grammar diatribe again:
Personally, I for one am glad that English is not a codified language. Rather it evolves as society evolves. For example, Shakespeare routinely invented words when he needed them and thanks to the hodgepodge that is the English language his audience was able to recognised the meaning of his words.

Compare this to French, a codified language maintained by a central body, where their equivalents of thee and thou are still in usage.

This is a language where words (or parts of words) from a pair dead language are routinely strung together to make "English words". For example, Aquaphobia is made up of Latin aqua "water" and Greek (phobia) "fear".

'Tis a language where there is no single authority that tracks that most basic of things - spelling. Indeed, I would be honoured to meet one who has the honor deciding which is the correct spelling for the English language.

While style guides exist, the lack of a central authority means that they are competing style guides. The "correct" usage is often the most popular one or the one arbitrarily selected by some authority. Thus, I can honestly that my usage of words, hyphens, etc always conforms to the style guide that I have chosen to embrace.

It's called "the Goodgulf Style Guide" and while it's not widely respected I'd take it over a Little Brown Book that is neither little nor brown.

Here ends my customary diatribe on the lack of standard grammar in the English Language.

Goodgulf

Edited to add:
What are we really debating here? Sequels or continuations?
The difference:
A continuation of Stars Wars: New Hope would show what happened after the heroes received their medals. Did they have dinner? Did Luke and Leia get it on? What happened then.
A sequel of Stars Wars: New Hope was Stars Wars: Return of the Jedi. It used many of the same characters but different locations and didn't try to pick things up where the first film ended. Rather it moved the action ahead by months (if not years).

So, do people want to see more sequels or continuations of stories?

Ah... something I can agree with!

I see a lot of comments asking for sequels. I'm not saying those commenters are insincere, but I think it is often meant as a compliment. There are some stories for which I would enjoy a sequel though. I just can't think which ones they are at the moment.


I agree with this. Definitely not an apostrophe as "up" isn't something belonging to a head. It is meant as a warning, raising the head up to pay attention as opposed to sticking it in the sand.

continuation or sequel...

to be honest, i never considered the difference between the two...

i liken a sequel to the 2nd episode of the pirates of the caribbean series where you definitely feel that there's something more to the story but the ending hasn't been told yet!

i think a continuation is more like the lord of the rings is to the hobbit - separate stories but with similar elements/characters!

so in this case, maybe i'm referring to stories that should be continued/finished, rather than continuations - if that makes any sense!

Sorry chum - the Goodgulf Style Guide has been lobbed down the trap door into room 101

Hey - those of us already down here didn't request this. Have we no rights?