WHO WANT'S TO KILL APOSTROPHE'S?

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Type: Discussion • Score: 14 • Views: 6,221 • Replies: 40

[+6] - boomerang - 06/17/2013You can have my apostrophes when you cut them from my cold, dead paper.
[+3] - McTag - 06/17/2013 Sometime's you need apostrophe's and sometimes you dont.
[+3] - dlowan - 06/17/2013[quote="boomerang"] You can have my apostrophes when you cut them from my cold, dead paper. [/quote] What she said! I want to kill thos'e who misuse the ******* apo'strophe's!

@Setanta,

Quit'e right t'oo.

They had a show about this on CBC radio this morning. Very entertaining. One woman in Australia who had casually called for the abolition of the apostrophe received death threats.

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Quote:

How do you feel about apostrophes?

A mountain naming committee in Thurman, New York recently learned that there's been a silent war of sorts being waged against the apostrophe.

The specific name they wanted was being debated, but all of the top suggestions ended with an apostrophe s, as the peak was being named to honor the local 1700s settler James Cameron.

Apparently, that kind of punctuation use doesn't fly with The Domestic Names Committee of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.

According to the agency, naming public places with an apostrophe s at the end implies too much individual possession, rather than giving an air of belonging to all of the people.

In the 113-year history of the organization, a handful of possessive apostrophe attempts have made it through.

Their mostly steadfast adherence to their rule doesn't mean that people approve of it. In 2009 the group was criticized at a meeting for its, "isolationist stance" toward "the perpetually punished apostrophe."

The British have encountered similar troubles, but in 2001 the Apostrophe Protection Society was founded in England to fight for the apostrophe's rights.

Video here..

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@Setanta,

You can have my apostrophes when you cut them from my cold, dead paper.

3 Replies

@boomerang,

Hehehehehehe . . .

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@boomerang,

Is that a figure of speech?

1 Reply

Sometime's you need apostrophe's and sometimes you dont.

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@boomerang,

boomerang wrote:

You can have my apostrophes when you cut them from my cold, dead paper.

What she said!

I want to kill thos'e who misuse the ******* apo'strophe's!

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@Setanta,

Did you notice yourself in the article, Set?

Quote:

Many of the calls to defend traditional apostrophe usage are little more than unthinking superstition. Its right because its right, runs the argument, failing to engage with the fact that its arbitrary. I suspect a lot of peoples prejudices on this matter are probably inculcated by humiliation at an early age, and leave victims frightened of the terrible social consequences they thereafter imagine will follow from deviating from the standard - this then becomes a self-reinforcing loop as they leap upon other peoples apostrophe 'misuse' like it matters, which it doesnt.

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Now, for an entirely different point of view, the Apostrophe Protection Society.

1 Reply

@Lordyaswas,

In in plurals of family names (the Farrelly's), after numerals or years (the 1980's), and several other places, apostrophes are petty intrusions, but no worse than all the bloody useless full points after well known contractions like Dr. or Ltd.; these are just visual littering – for which people should be fined, or worse.

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I like punctuation, but really dislike air quotes.

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@glitterbag,

Quote:

I like punctuation, but really dislike air quotes.

That's pretty dumb, GB. Why would you dislike a form of punctuation that is every bit as descriptive, probably more so, than the punctuation used in writing?

Would you rather people carried around a whiteboard and markers?

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@wildrover,

There is no call for apostrophes in the plurals of family names, at least in my reading.

1 Reply

@ossobuco,

Quote:

There is no call for apostrophes in the plurals of family names, at least in my reading.

What if they are a combined plural and a genitive, Osso?

With an apostrophe, the assumption is that it's the [name]'s house/abode/ cabin/etc.

Isn't that a good reason, Osso?

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@Setanta,

Think of the apostrophe's feelings, for goodness sake.
If people keep screwing with punctualization, nobody will ever be on time.

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@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

Now, for an entirely different point of view, the Apostrophe Protection Society.

I am most fond of the apostrophe, when properly used. I have a near compulsion to go around and correct menus on chalkboards etc. Perhaps I ought rather to say menu's on chalkboard's.

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@dlowan,

I feel that way about signs in supermarkets which read: "Ten items or less." Fewer, goddamn it, fewer . . .

1 Reply

I think there ought to be books of apostrophes with no words at all. It just might open new vistas to the aspiring writer in search of a theme.

' ''' ' ''''' ' ' '''''''''''''''' '' ' ''' ''''''

1 Reply

WHO WANT'S TO KILL APOSTROPHE'S?

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