Monday 12 October 2009

The Crux of the Biscuit is the Apostrophe

The misplaced apostrophe is a popular phenomenon which has brought joy to pedants throughout the English speaking world. We've all got our its and it's mixed up at sometime and who hasn't bought apple's, potato's and banana's? But I recently encountered a new variation:

The apostrophe is not unknown in the field of surnames - step up Lord De'Ath and Winston O'Boogie. But I have not come across this before, especially after having spelled out the name over the telephone to the functionary who applied the sticky label to this particular delivery. What made him think an apostrophe belongs there? Does he apply it to all surnames and words ending in the letter S?

1 comment:

  1. I reckon that some people were born with a surfeit of apostrophes and dump them at every opportunity - like me and my surfeit of gas.

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