Girl Friday's or Family Grooms

[wilf]

Happy new year to everyone,

I hope that the weather is treating you well and that we are not all suffering from far too much turkey and pudding...

I am a writer, a professional copywriter by day with topics as diverse as breast cancer, food safety and travel pieces as some of the subjects my clients ask me to write about. By night I am looking to write a novel (about a subject closer to my heart!) I have published a couple before, but would like to achieve something in 2017.

Therefore, I would like to turn to you for help and advice, the plot has an equestrian background and I would love to create a rom-com from a different perspective. I would love to chat with anyone who has been (or is) a Girl Friday or who has worked as a groom within a family.

I would just like to be able to ask a few questions to create a feasible reality and would love to understand more about what was good and bad about such a role?

Many thanks in advance, low-calorie chocolates all round!

Wilf

 

[catwithclaws]

Feel free to PM me with questions and I'll try to help

 

[Redders]

I spent a year as a live in girl Friday/groom. Horses in day and kids (terrors) at night. Happy to answer anything

 

[Slightly Foxed]

If you're a writer Wilf, I hope you have a good proofreader, you're a bit extravagant with apostrophes!

 

[wilf]

If you're a writer Wilf, I hope you have a good proofreader, you're a bit extravagant with apostrophes!

Thanks for the feedback, it is always appreciated.

 

[VioletFlower]

...

 

[Ceifer]

I was a groom for one of the richest (and nuttiest!)families in France for a year if you want anecdotes about letting the family dog piddle up the leg of European royalty?!

 

[Mrs B]

If you're a writer Wilf, I hope you have a good proofreader, you're a bit extravagant with apostrophes!

Or commas, even

 

[Slightly Foxed]

Or commas, even

Are you referring to my commas Mrs B? They're before and after a subordinate clause so perfectly legal I think?? (Double question marks for effect.)

 

[Mrs B]

Are you referring to my commas Mrs B? They're before and after a subordinate clause so perfectly legal I think?? (Double question marks for effect.)

No, not yours, SF. I could only see one apostrophe in Wilf's post and that was in the title?! (Question mark followed by exclamation mark to denote query plus confusion.)

 

[Slightly Foxed]

Apologies Wilf and Mrs B, 'tis the season to be curmudgeonly!

Good luck Wilf in your research.

 

[JJS]

If you're a writer Wilf, I hope you have a good proofreader, you're a bit extravagant with apostrophes!

If we're being very pedantic, you're not being extravagant enough with your commas, SF. You're missing one before Wilf's name 😉

 

[JJS]

No, not yours, SF. I could only see one apostrophe in Wilf's post and that was in the title?! (Question mark followed by exclamation mark to denote query plus confusion.)

I think SF was referring to the fact that the apostrophe in the title shouldn't be there.

 

[ester]

Good lord how dare someone allow themselves some typos when not doing the day job!

 

[wilf]

Ah, the joy of punctuation, always contentious. I apologise for any errors, have to admit I rushed out the post between working on a couple of bits of work... Slapped wrist for me not properly checking!

Thank you to everyone who has messaged me, I have some great research already. I really appreciate all the time and effort.

Wilf

 

[JJS]

Ah, the joy of punctuation, always contentious. I apologise for any errors, have to admit I rushed out the post between working on a couple of bits of work... Slapped wrist for me not properly checking!

As a fellow professional copywriter, I know your pain. Good luck with your novel; I'm sure it will turn out fabulously.

 

[Colivet]

Correct me if I'm wrong but should it not be Girls Friday?

 

[Mrs B]

I think SF was referring to the fact that the apostrophe in the title shouldn't be there.

No, although she said 'apostrophes', plural. There was only one in that original post ...

Hi Wilf! *grins & waves*

Apologies for the tangent, good luck with your research and welcome to pedants' corner ...

 

[wilf]

Lol... I have had similar arguements over the use of an Oxford comma! Most of my clients are US based so I spend most of my life misspelling things, sorry using US English

 

[Dubsie]

I suspect it's the autocorrect.....one wouldn't write about multiple Fridays as often as something that pertains to Friday eg Friday's newspaper.

 

[ester]

Lol... I have had similar arguements over the use of an Oxford comma! Most of my clients are US based so I spend most of my life misspelling things, sorry using US English

Ha, I do science, I cannot deal with sulfur, feces and all the zz that we have to use .

 

[Colivet]

Correct me if I'm wrong but should it not be Girls Friday?

I suspect it's the autocorrect.....one wouldn't write about multiple Fridays as often as something that pertains to Friday eg Friday's newspaper.

Can anyone confirm? The reasoning behind my thinking is that in this instance Girl is a noun and Friday is an adjective (the girl is more specifically described as a Girl Friday) and you would not pluralise an adjective. To use a different example - Car Valet - you have a valet who is specifically a car valet but you would not ask a question of several Cars Valet, you would ask Car Valets. Is my thinking correct?