Showing posts with label punctuation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label punctuation. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Apostrophe Atrocities

It's amazing how much the humble apostrophe is abused in today's popular culture.

TV news stations, newspaper ads, billboards and many other public forums are awash in apostrophe disasters. What people really seems to choke on is the plural-versus-possessive issue. Why can't people—especially those who write ad copy—get it right?

Some examples I've recently seen include the auto dealer who claimed to offer "Hundreds of car's at the best prices!" Then there's the TV station that provided a bulleted list to supplement a reporter's story, with one of the bullets reading "Tomorrows event begins at 10 a.m."

Aren't ad agencies hiring people who understand 5th-grade punctuation? Aren't TV station managers concerned about embarrassing themselves before tens of thousands of people?

It's not as if the rules for apostrophe usage are rocket science. I think the apostrophe is abused for several reasons: First, because people are lazy; they don't want to take five minutes to learn the difference between plural and possessive. Also, people aren't concerned about details or finesse, and they don't realize (and won't believe when you tell them) how foolish and unprofessional they look.

It's your turn—I'd love to see some of the apostrophe atrocities you've seen!