Sunday, February 1, 2009

What's Next to Go - Excalmation Points and Question Marks?

I heard about this tidbit on the news a few nights ago and have been scouring the Internet trying to find it in print. And here it is.

In one of England's largest town, they are getting rid of the apostrophe.

That's right. They think it's a nuisance. It's confusing. It's hard to use on a GPS. It's - get this - expensive. So now it's gone.

Possessiveness is archaic and antiquated, they say. It shouldn't matter. So now it's gone.

I found this so appalling I wanted to rant about it a while... but honestly? I'm so stunned I have no words.

4 comments:

  1. I'm so stunned I have no apostrophes.

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  2. It's like it doesn't matter if it's plural or possessive anymore, right? Why quibble over small semantics?

    Fly me over there and I'll paint the stupid apostrophe's on all their signs! Sheesh!

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  3. What are they going to do next--get rid of periods? I'd agree that semi-colons should be obliterated; I never never never get them right. See? Much more powerful as two separate sentences.

    Also, what if they set up computers to automatically delete repeated words?

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  4. oh marsh! I love the semi-colon! It is so misunderstood! :)

    My MSWORD underlines repeated words. Drives me nuts. I find myself yelling at it: "I meant to do that!!" :)

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