Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Consider the Appostrophe

Woe is me! I just re-read my "Sortadox" post and noticed yet another missing appostrophe. Ugh! My pride quotient went down for sure.

I have bit...complained for years about our decline in punctuation dexterity. Semi-colons are a big problem. People shouldn't use semi-colons if they don't know what semi-colons do; they should just use a period or a comma.

But the most abused punctuation symbol by far is the lowly appostrophe. Professional signs are made--seemingly every day--with things like "Marys Rib's and Chicken," written on them. Shouldn't Mary--or the professionals who made her sign--know the difference between a possessive noun and a plural noun?

Sure, we all know what that sign means. Yes, I should just relax and go on with my life. But it grate's on my sensibility's.

So it is an exercise in humility to read my own blog and see that something I read through several times has two missing appostrophes. Perhaps now I will be less bit...irritated when Mary makes a mistake. It could happen to anyone.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That's a funny entry! Grammar and punctuation errors irritate me also. It must be an English major thing! Hey, one time I saw a store sign advertising a "neckless" for sale. Oh my, if you don't have a neck, then why buy a necklace?! It was a right good laugh for a word junkie like myself.
--Sheryl