I'm resurrecting this 2007 blog post. Watching TV this afternoon I spotted not one but two instances of missing apostrophes during a show and a commercial. I'm sure you encounter similar things all the time.
I'm going to take the no apostrophe side for a moment (which is hard for me to do since the absence of needed apostrophes is so distracting to me). In addition to the keystroke savings I mentioned (tongue in cheek) in the original post, I must admit that it's not particularly difficult to know what word was intended when the apostrophe is omitted. Dont is obviously don't. And context can usually reveal the intended meaning when I see its instead of it's or lets rather than let's. OK, that's all the support I can muster. I think I'll probably be firmly on the keep the apostrophe and teach people to use it correctly side of the argument for a long, long time. Although I will admit that when texting I will skip the apostrophes sometimes.
Original blog post from June 2007: Forget about using proper typographical punctuation. For quite some time there's been a movement aimed at abandoning the apostrophe altogether -- whether you're typing the upright tick mark (prime ' for feet and minutes) as used in most email and online writing or, you're creating the cute and curly ' apostrophe found in professional typesetting. About.com Grammar & Composition Guide Richard Nordquist tells us The Campaign to Abolish the Apostrophe is alive and well.
Whats your thought on this? Its not like we really need it. Dont you think this paragraph is perfectly understandable without the pesky little ink spot? And Ive saved myself at least five keystrokes. Lets talk about it.
No way! The apostrophe is an important part of English Language, which, if removed, will alter the context of certain words – in particular “it’s” and “its”.
What next? A campaign to get rid of the comma?
Hi Jacci,
As a writer and former editor I was interested in your item about the proposed abolition of the apostrophe. Ultimately, usage will decide, but I would be among those who value the apostrophe’s small but significant presence. As you point out, abolishing it would probably do nothing to improve the precision of written English.
Those who find rigour irksome, whether in English or other disciplines, will often look for ways of making life easier for themselves. To some extent laziness has been a driver for progress, and one might embrace proposed changes that were logical, for example more phonetic spelling of words that end in -ough – but plain dumbing down is another matter. Progress, yes, abandonment of valuable standards, no.
I use it most of the time, but sometimes I do omit it in emails. Is it more of the ‘Dumbing Down of America”. Will we appear to the rest of the world to actually be as stupid as we look?
I thnk we shud keep the curly quotes. How ridiculus to drop them. I’ve dropd sevral leters in ths email. Can yu stil read it? Does it make sense to yu? Ys, I thnk it does. But it looks childish and unprofesional. We’ve lost the art of cnversation because we’ve put more emphasis on expediency than on prncipl. Must we now go down ths road in the riten wrd? Oh good grief.
I’ve noticed it has taken me twice as long to write this email, because I’m trying to think what letters to drop. Give me a break. This sounds like a five year old whining because the parent has told the child he has to pick up his toys. Of course we could leave the toys all over the floor. We wouldn’t want to upset the little one, now would we? We could damage his psyche.
Grow up.
WOW 39 years ago,
RFK was assasinated
we need the aposttrophe. If just to avoid using it.
I think the apostrophe is an important part of the written English language. This campaign to save a key stroke or two because of laziness is becoming a much too prevalent part of life. I am in favor of retaining a cognizant writing style.
It’s another of the myriad examples of sheer laziness in the distorting of the English language. If we are going to write as a means of communication, we must not distort meaning to save a keystroke. Sacrificing nuance and clarity to save(?) time is not the job of the communicator.
retarded lazy people thought of this one – must be the same poeple who came up with “eubonics”
C’mon people – grow up, it’s not that difficult to better yourselves and be normal.
Why not abolish capital letters too then? Or commas?
anyone willing to squash the question mark?? !!
Obviously an idea dreamed up by someone who hasn’t a clue about grammar and has no intention of learning.
Why don’t we take it a stage further and write in text language?
A definite retrograde step, which won’t allow us to poke fun when big companies like Tesco hang up massive banners with the wrong use of the apostrophe, as happened in my local store.
Bah humbug!
Sorry should have directed you to this site: http://www.apostrophe.fsnet.co.uk/
why not include the abolition of the letter o since it gets mixed up with the digit 0.
and als dnt use capital letters t save time.
actually, I think that the peple behind the campaign t ablish the apstrphe have 0 intelligence, with nthin better t d .
English is considered a Germanic language but lacks a genative case. The little dot substitutes for this forgotten gammatical form. And contractions would not be the same if it were to vanish.
This is the dumbest (nutty) idea I’ve heard in a long time. These people are spending too much time finding ways to abbreviate emails and cellular text messages. I feel that most of them don’t know how to spell anyway and are destroying our language in the process.
Nope…not yet!
Leave the English language alone. The school children are not taught grammar properly as it is. We had to learn all punctuation at school and it stood us in good stead. Reading a book properly punctuated helps makes sense of the text. Why wipe out part of our language skills just to accommodate lazey learners.
In its written form the English language needs it to put value in punctuation, as do other languages. It is only in the spoken form that it is not needed i.e. Victor Borge’s “Phonetic Punctuation” routine.
Leave the poor apostrophe alone! Context is NOT everything; there are perfectly good reasons for using an apostrophe. Eliminating it would create less clarity in the written word, and we have enough trouble with that as it is (think politics). Simplicity is fine, and we could perhaps think about changing some spellings that are unnecessarily complex, but clarity and understanding trump simplicity any day. Why should we have to reread a sentence to make sure it means “it is” instead of “its” (possessive). These “rules” are not particularly onerous nor difficult to remember–is everyone just too damn lazy?
Are any of the “movement members” aware of the “No Child Left Behind” program instituted by Congress which makes public schools dependent upon passing tests to receive federal funding? The increase of computer usage in the classroom has “taught” students an entirely new “computer short-cut lingo” which is having devasting effects upon the writing standards. One content standard/benchmark alone is WRITING CONVENTIONS. This section is divided into five indicators: a. correct spelling conventions; b. correct capitalization and PUNCTUATION; c. correct usage of clauses and phrases; d. correct usage of parallel structure to present items in a series and items uxtaposed for emphasis; e. correct usage/placement of modifiers.
Although public education in the United States of America is already unfairly compared to government-enforced “selection” in other nations, this can only make the efforts of students and teachers much more difficult than the existing situation.
Kristy, English teacher, 32 years
NO WAY!! I can remember hearing the phrase “You will not use contractions in THIS house!” but, there are some times when apostrophes are correct. We have become such a lazy language. Read an e-mail and it will make you sick if you ever completed an elementary grammer course. This is just WRONG!
People who misuse apostrophe’s drive me banana’s.
I’m for keeping the apostrophe. Not only is it part of the written English language, it’s a part of some surnames, including mine.
This proposition is a load of rubbish — the last resort of the lazy.
Midsummer-Night next I shall be 86. I’ve been reading, writing, editing ,teaching since the age of five. Like everyone else, I’ve had to give up a great deal in this long life. Enough. Apostrophes must not go.
Sometimes it is the small touches or going the extra mile that separates the professional from the unprofessional… the successful from the unsuccessful.
I’ll keep my apostrophes and the extra key strokes it takes to make them… and the success of every small touch or key stroke that sets me apart from the competition.
Being a newsletter editor for our local genealogical society, I may do the next issue sans apostrophes, just to see if anyone notices. Its or it’s…any resonably intelligent can figure out from the context of the sentence what is going on. He’s or hes, she’s or shes? I may look funny at first, but I could give up the little things.
Okay…let me try this again. Being a newsletter editor for our local genealogical society, I may do the next issue sans apostrophes, just to see if anyone notices. Its or it’s…any reasonably intelligent person can figure out from the context of the sentence what is going on. He’s or hes, she’s or shes? It may look funny at first, but I could give up the little things. I think that Forest Gump would have been in favor of dumping them. Wasn’t it he who said said, “Good, one less thing”?
Ill be ill without the apostrophe!
for possessives, yes it can definitely go. for indicating missed-out letters, not so sure yet.
capital letters can also go, as can silent letters.
in fact, a lot can be changed, then we can stop wasting so much of our and future generations time and we and they can do something more interesting and/or worthwhile.