Pedant's Revolt
September 4, 2009
When apostrophes go missing, some people take matters into their own hands!
That's not my headline, I've just borrowed that one from a national newspaper in
England, where I’m currently on holiday.
It reminded me, and indeed endorsed my thoughts on the matter, about the importance
of retrieving lost apostrophes, a subject which I wrote about in a previous blog.
Well, this country has always thrown up its fair share of eccentrics, and Stefan
Gatward of Tunbridge Wells might easily fall into that category, though some, like
myself, might think he's just doing grammar and the English language a great service.
Stefan got so upset with developers spelling the name of his street wrong – St Johns
Close, without the apostrophe – that he took it upon himself to correct the error
by inserting the missing link with a paintbrush! In my humble opinion, Stefan, and
the good folk of the AAAA (Association for the Annihilation of the Aberrant Apostrophe),
should be congratulated for continuing the fight to see the language spoken and
written in the right way.
Imagine reading the sentence: "She'd wed him in a shed if we'd agree to it" without
the apostrophes! It's just nonsense. Stefan gets my Man of the Moment Award!
I've been lapping up the myriad newspapers on offer here, and in France, where I've
also been. There's much more choice than there is in Australia, due mainly to the
size of their respective populations, and because of that competition, the quality
is quite high, too.
When I first harboured ambitions of becoming a journalist, I would buy my favourite
newspaper every day, The Guardian, to read some of my favourite writers. It’s still
very much a paper of quality journalism, and its website is pretty outstanding,
too.
The top-seller in the UK, The Sun, panders to those interested in celebrity gossip
and scandal and is read by about five million people every day. A survey was done
once which suggested that the paper could easily be read and comprehended by 7-
or 8-year-olds! If you read it, you can see why!
I'm off to Europe again soon, including Prague, though I'm not sure I'll be able
to understand their papers!
Happy writing!
Gary Smith
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