I demand an end to the apostrophe: Then the maligned greengrocer will be as literate as you and I: Discuss?

Question

To stand a chance of getting a Best Answer, please read the following before replying:

http://www.wordspy.com/words/greengrocersapostrophe.asp

For those that feel this is not a question, let me put it like this:

Shall we end the misery of the greengrocer by ending the apostrophe? Better for you?

For Tim:

Did you ever accidentally donate ladies as a result of a poorly apostrophied flyer? Please give details.

Regarding "You and I" if you clicked on the link you'll see that it's a quote. Didn't seem right to change, therefore. I rather think it's ironic.

Regarding colons, I repeat again ("sighs") - It's a quote.

Answer 1

Lynne Truss would have loved this. I won't go into why removing aprostrophes would just contrive to turn good comprehensible English into gibberish; anyone who cares to learn why should read her wonderful book 'Eats, Shoots & Leaves'.

Personally, I think whoever wants apostrophes abolished just cannot use them correctly themselves. Removing apostrophes is not the answer (and will never happen, if this world is to remain sane). Better education, perhaps. Especially to those kids who have the look of a future greengrocer about them.

Answer 2

The questions are (a) whether the possessive apostrophe really helps clarify anything, or (b) whether the language has changed so much that the majority of English speakers don't use the apostrophe properly, suchthat the "proper" use can no longer be seen as "proper."
I think there are some times in which the apostrophe clears up language, but as demonstrated in "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" we do understand the possessive without it. When you add to that all the superfluous uses of the apostrophe (part b), it's clear that people don't know how to use it anyway (just look at the grocer, or more aptly today, the internet chat room), it must not have its previous, helpful meaning. And with words like "its" being possessive (without an apostrophe) its clear that English speakers could conduct language clearly without the possessive apostrophe.
I'm not sure I'm ready to get rid of it for possession, though, because there are some times when it can reduce ambiguity. Written language is this constant tug of war between formalism and organic growth. After all, languages are "alive," with rules constantly changing. So those who say "well, we can't give it up just because people don't do it right anymore," are not completely in the right. Alternative spellings exist because people spell a word wrong for a long, long period of time, and the wrong spelling becomes an acceptable form. Sentence structure changes (look at the "split infinitive" rule, which has been all but abandoned, simply because it sounds better to sometimes split infinitives ). Words are added and removed from the lexicon. Otherwise, we'd be saying "Thou" and spelling like Chaucer today.
However, in this instance, I don't know that there has been enough growth away from the possessive apostrophe for us to declare it dead.
Ask me again in about 50 years.

Answer 3

Don't (another apostrophe now used to join and split words) remove the possessive apostrophe, just educate the lazy who won't learn proper english.

It is not (tisn't / 'tisn't / isn't) a difficult concept to grasp or am I giving too much credit to the IQ status of the offenders.

This greengrocer's' (don't know where to put the apostrophe in this case so just added one on either side for the sake of avoiding being incorrect) apostrophe has been adopted twice by our esteemed Marks & Spencer group...

See here for the M&S blunders and a few other absolute classics.

Leave the apostrophe alone - if nothing else it can give some of us a laugh.

Answer 4

Greengrocer's (or greengrocers') apostrophe or not, the use of apostrophes in plurals needs to be discouraged or eliminated wherever it can. The problem is that an apostrophe means possessive. So when you write "All mom's and dad's invited", my immediate response is "mom's and dad's WHAT?". We need to reserve use of the apostrophe for possessives. So we need to write "dogs are barking", not "dog's are barking", we need to write IRAs (Individual Retirement Accounts), not IRA's, and 7s, not 7's. Ford was president in the 1970s, not the 1970's, for we need to be able to say "1970's biggest event was the Kent State shootings.". The high today will be in the 50s, not the 50's. Even some single letters should be spared. Write qs, not q's.

The one exception is when lack of an apostrophe forms a different word. We must write "A's", not "As" for excellent report card grades, since "As" is a word. The same way with i's and u's. But to me these should be the only exceptions.

Answer 5

I agree with the answer that apostrophes are helpful in distinguishing possessive usage. Perhaps an alternative would be to forgive the use of apostrophes for plurals, instead of considering this an error. In cases where the plural form makes the noun harder to recognize, I can almost understand why someone would choose to use an apostrophe to offset the "s" especially in signage that needs to be read and understood quickly. Shall we compromise and forgive such usage, instead of labeling anyone illiterate? As long as it does not cause confusion or ambiguity, why not just use the language as most practical? Isn't the purpose of language to communicate?

Answer 6

If we give in on the misuse of apostrophes, which if taught properly are easily understood, then what next. We start phonetic spelling because people are too lazy to learn how to spell? We give up grammar and punctuation totally because it's too difficult? It's not just the greengrocer these days, read any newspaper!

Answer 7

Apostrophes have their place in English grammar and should be retained. I LOVE seeing how greengrocers throw them in all over the place .... makes shopping great fun! If we get rid of them, then we shall probably start to leave out the comma, then what is the point of capital letters and all that ... and before you know it we shall be writing in text!
*starts a national campaign to retain the apostrophe*

Answer 8

As I have been The Assistant Mate's Helper's Friend of the AAAA (Association for the Abolition of the Abherrent Apostrophe) for a lot longer than I will admit to, I now do not buy banana's or cherry's any more.
I would like the extra point's though. Ta much.
There was a good article in the paper a week or two ago- s'omething like thi's, it wa's. Gave me a chuckle.

Answer 9

I live in France, where some shop owners, wishing to use English in their sign names, use apostrophes willy-nilly.
Example : "Hair's and Grace's".

Of course, they have the excuse of being foreigners, unlike our home-grown apostrophe misusers, who should know better. However, we cannot abandon punctuation simply to render the maligned greengrocer literate. That would just be NUT'S!

Answer 10

We may as well get rid of the apostrophe along with much of English grammar. Many of the people writing on here have no knowledge of spelling whatsoever and are unable to identify irony.