The poor misused apostrophe.

[Hammer Head]

Where has the widespread misuse of the apostrophe come from. The apostrophe (as I was taught) is used to denote missing characters or to denote possession. Nobody has ever been taught in any school to use the apostrophe to pluralise nouns. So why do we see it so often?

A quick walk around town at the weekend revealed the following gems.

A music shop offered half price guitar's. The butcher was extolling the virtues of his home-made sausage's.

My local PC World once had a huge sign which informed customers that they offered repairs to all make's of computers.

However, none was more confused than the person who put the following sign outside a cafe.

Childrens (sic) meals: Burgers and chips, Chicken nugget's and chips.

Now to be fair to this person he was probably playing it safe. Not being sure whether you pluralised a noun with an apostrophe or not, he decided to do it both ways. Surely he would be half correct. He was so caught up in his dilemma that he completely forgot about the apostrophe that should have gone with Childrens.

Sometimes, the source of these errors is surprising. In work recently a memorandum from the Chairman about a serious accident stated that "an investigation is ongoing as to it's cause."

My son's last school report repeatedly referred to "Richards progress" and "Richards attitude", and these people are trying to educate our children.

Most people are totally confused about use of the apostrophe. They use it where it is not required and omit it where it is.

Maybe we should have "National Apostrophe Days", or should that be "Day's" where the less enlightened can be educated as to its correct use.

[BigMac]

Read Lynne Truss's book "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" - recommended not as a solution but to show you are not alone.

I recently returned to BT a letter that began "You should of received...."

[jake-the-peg]

Are you sure you're not being a bit snobby here over the less enlightened?

After all language is about communication. The meaning of all of those examples was clear despite the unconventional usage.

Do you actually need to say Roger's pen rather than Rogers pen?

Even if you consider Sues pen as ambiguious (perhaps the pen is being sued) the meaning becomes clear in the context of the sentence.

Perhaps a better solution would to be to drop it entirely unless absolutely necessary.

This would leave you with only using the apostraphe where it is needed to distinguish meaning.

Which is after all what punctionation is there for - not for demonstrating that you have a better(?) education than somebody else.

[jno]

I suspect the apostrophe is going to fade away over the next century, precisely because nobody seems to know how to use it. Newspapers and book publishers still seem to use it correctly, but as you point out, Hammer Head, schoolteachers seem to be all at sea, and they're the ones teaching the next generation of journalists and publishers. It's a shame when English teachers are illiterate (and this goes right the way up to university tutors, as I can personally confirm), but that's progress for you.

[Dizzieblonde]

I assume assumed the apostrophe was to indicate ownership (Hammer Head's post), or as an abbreviation in replacing the letter 'i' - (Hammer Head's having fun)?

[Postdog]

These days I suppose we have to grateful that some can actually read, let alone anything else.

[Dizmal]

I agree with you completely, and it can never be made redundant because of the good and necessary work it does.
There is an Apostrophe Protection Society where you will find fellow conservationists - check the web

[A Chill Wind]

I blame the greengrocer's.

[Rock'n'Roll]

I see nothing snobbish about using basic English. Better education should not even be an issue with basic English.
To go to the extremes,let's get rid of English grammar competely and just use text talk.
BigMac: I was going to reccomend the same book,just finished reading it. Still not 100% sure about semi colons though. Now that is possibly something that could be done away with

[Quizmonkey]

I agree with the poster - and find Jake-the-Peg's 'arguments' ludicrous. Unenlightened is fact - there's nothing snobbish about the statement. It truly saddens me to see more and more examples of apostrophe abuse - often perpetrated by major high street retail chains. They have POS signs saying 'Childrens', 'Mens' etc - bulk-printed and appearing in hundreds of stores nationwide. What chance do the 'people on the street' have? The move away from traditional English teaching, with grammar lessons, is obviosuly to blame: no-one where I work can explain the roles of the apostrophe.

[GirlClown]

Well done Hammer Head! I agree with you, totally!
What's more, Jake The Peg's penultimate paragraph: "This would leave you with only using the apostrophe where it is needed to distinguish meaning" is meaningless since, without common usage of the apostrophe, no-one would KNOW how to use it when needed!
I'm so glad that there are other people out there who feel the same way that I do. I'd begun to think that I was alone in wanting to see English written (and, indeed, spoken) as it should be!
Have you read John Humphrys' "Lost for Words"? (ISBN 0-340-83659-8). It's well worth reading!

[rogerr]

I can't beiieve that nobody has mentioned Keith Waterhouse and his columns about the "aberrant apostrophe" He took to task Lloyds bank and Barclays and numerous others for their misuse of the apostrophe, or lack of. He blamed it on the "apostrophe" fly that settled on notices and deposited apostrophes wherever they went.

[rogerr]

Perhaps I'm too old!

[Dusky]

There are plenty of contributors around here who could - and probably will - wax even more lyrical on this subject than people already have and I can add little to the points of reference already mentioned (Lynne Truss - Gawd bless 'er) but I'm eager to mention one I noticed only recently no more than three miles from here where the offence is compounded by having two different errors within inches of each other.
The sign reads: "Ladies Hair Extension's"
The apostrophe is inarguably vital its inappropriate absence, presence and positioning are misleading and indefensible.

[Hammer Head]

I went to the local agricultural show yesterday and spotted an absolute beauty. I took a photograph of it and only wish AB had a facility for uploading pictures.

In full painted livery on the side of a fast food trailer were the words "CORNISH PASTY'S".

[shammydodger]

Jake

I've read your initial post, but not read the remaining posts, so please bear this in mind when I say:

Cobblers! Language does evolve. Of course it does. But the apostrophe is there for a reason.

Are you trying to tell me that "Pick your own Strawberrie's" ought to be acceptable? (And that sign was up about 1 mile away from where I live). I despair that we seem to be lead by the uneducated rather than the educated. If that is the desire of the majority, then count me out and I'm off to Spain to see out my life.

Adios!

[FoxLee]

There is apparently an article in The Times today about the apostrophe and its misuse or non-use and one example someone had sent in was a notice in a block of flats:-

Residents refuse to go into the chutes.

Well they would, wouldn't they.

Jake-the-Peg - as well as decrying the use of the apostrophe,do you also have no respect for correct spelling? There were three mistakes in your post, including the word apostrophe itself.

[jenstar]

Its the duty of all write-thinking people, to misuse apostrophe's and mispell word's as much as possable - in order to cause pedant's to have heart atack's and die.