Goodbye Mr Apostrophe?

buddhaboy · February 1, 2009

This topic was imported from the Typophile platform

I read in (my dad's) Telegraph this morning that some bright sparks want to eliminate the apostrophe. Particularly the possessive. It all started, apparently, with Birmingham city council in the UK deciding to drop it from all road signage in the city.

Thoughts?

I'll miss it!

PublishingMojo · February 1, 2009

Your dads telegraph? How many dads do you have?

buddhaboy · February 1, 2009

indeed! Were all going to hell in a handcart!

barkeep · February 1, 2009

Well down here in Devon they seem to have never heard of the possessive, none of the road signs use them.
We have recently rebranded a local school and were over ruled by the board of governors on the use of the possessive in the logo, which we found amusing as the school was holding a spelling bee competition shortly after it reopened.

PublishingMojo · February 1, 2009

Oh, the apostrophe. Its a shame that some people dont appreciate its value. Well all miss it when its gone. Ill bet youre upset you spent all that money on your childrens education.

buddhaboy · February 1, 2009

dogs dog dogs dogs dog

Who's doing what to whom?

paragraph · February 1, 2009

https://typography.guru/forums/topic/60444-forwarding

Alessandro Segalini · February 2, 2009

I read it courtesy of Peter Stanbridge via Typo-L ; here is the NYT article.

will powers · February 2, 2009

Plenty of people have lamented the disappearing possessive apostrophe. Nothing new there.

BUT . . . let's keep in mind that this lack may be offset by the far too frequent addition of an apostrophe where none is needed. Many folks think one is needed to make a noun plural. This sentence just came around in an internal e-mail:

"The Parking Booth will continue to be staffed on Monday’s."

So perhaps the world supply of apostrophes will remain stable thanks to both correct and incorrect use.

powers

buddhaboy · February 2, 2009

I'm certainly no authority on latin, and I'm curious... should that be the supply of apostrophi? Technically incorrect I'm sure, but it sounds good :)

PublishingMojo · February 2, 2009

I think apostrophe is Greek, like ephemera. I once saw an article (in the Chronicle of Higher Education, no less) that used the word ephemerae, thus affixing a bogus Latin plural ending to a Greek word that was already plural.

charles_e · February 2, 2009

Speaking of oddities -- and correct me if I'm wrong -- but those of us who use English are accustomed to words of Greek origin with an "f" sound being spelled with a "ph". As in 'philosophy'. Now the Germanic languages allow an "f" in these words. But why a mix, as in filosophy?

Down10 · February 2, 2009

What's interesting is how a company's use of an apostrophe use will tilt in either direction, without regard to context or distinction. McDonald's and Walgreens are both giant corporations, yet McDonald's kept theirs while Walgreens did not.

Chad Kent · February 2, 2009

I would miss it as well. Found this informative, if not sadly designed site (apparently, punctuation is patriotic):

http://www.nationalpunctuationday.com/

They list at least one example of how important a comma can be:

It’s also a day to remind business people that poor punctuation can cost your business millions of dollars.

Rogers Communications, for example, one of Canada’s largest telecommunications companies, learned the hard way just how important proper punctuation could be, when an attorney misplaced a comma in a contract with a company that agreed to lay Rogers’s cables across the Maritimes. A Canadian court said ignorance of correct punctuation was no excuse and invalidated what was believed to be an ironclad five-year contract. That errant squiggle alone cost Rogers $2.13 million. There’s a link to the newspaper article about this case below.

The power of punctuation!

PublishingMojo · February 3, 2009

I wonder if there's any significance to the fact that National Punctuation Day is 5 days after Talk Like a Pirate Day.

Chad Kent · February 3, 2009

=) There's got to be some link!

With names like:

"Cap'n Slappy and Ol' Chumbucket spent Talk Like A Pirate Day 2008 in Philadelphia as…"

I think you're on to something…those two would be looking for new names without the good 'ol apostrophe.

microspective · February 4, 2009

Case in point: I think you mean good ol'...

microspective · February 4, 2009

Apostrophe misuse drives me nuts, but just think: if they do away with the great apostrophe, all those well-educated high-schoolers who paint Class of "09" (or '09' / 09' / 09") on their cars will be that much better off.

Chad Kent · February 4, 2009

Case in point: I think you mean good ol’...

Busted! I'm definitely guilty of abuse and misuse of a few apostrophes. My apologies.

Full disclosure: I lost the 5th grade spelling bee by misspelling "it's"…so this has been with me a long time =)

kaujot · February 4, 2009

5th grade and a spelling bee word was it's? Really?

Typedog · February 4, 2009

Guerrizmo+Design

Chad Kent · February 4, 2009

>5th grade and a spelling bee word was it’s? Really?

Pretty sad, I know…they must have viewed it as trick question…it still burns a little.

Ricardo Cordoba · February 4, 2009

Whilewereatit,letsgetridofwordspacestoo!Theyjusttakeup...space,asitwere.

NOWAIT...IKNOW!LETSDOAWAYWITHTHOSEPESKYMINUSCULESTOO!YEAH!!!

paragraph · February 5, 2009

Ricardo, did you come across Iain M. Banks and his novel FEERSUM ENDJINN? If not, you might enjoy it ...

Ricardo Cordoba · February 5, 2009

Just looked it up, paragraph -- thanks for the tip! Looks "innaresting". ;-)

Goodbye Mr Apostrophe?

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