Apostrophising
Great news this week: the recession is at an end!
Phew! To think how worried we all were last October when I started this blog, about the credit crunch and what sort of impact it might have on editorial staff and standards. I know I wasn’t the only one who feared that business people – in their collective madness – might cut back on copy-editing and proofing. Fortunately, the recession is over and we can look forward to plenty of work as the number of B2B websites and publications increases.
Despite being more optimistic about my financial future however, I am still a dedicated follower of freecycle. For those of you not in the know, this is one of the best ideas ever to hit the internet. You get rid of what you want – even broken computers for goodness sake – and you obtain beautiful things like pianos and office furniture.
But some freecyclers express themselves better than others. I’ve read posts offering “an old lady’s mountain bike” for example. This week someone was offering “a concrete boot planter” whatever that is. And then, there was this:
“Hi everyone
Is anyone getting rid of any telly tubby’s – I am not fussed which one but looking for something to stimulate my daughter…”
‘Stimulate’ is a worrying word choice, but the use of the apostrophe – and the spelling – would no doubt upset the apostrophe warrior of Tunbridge Wells, Stefan Gatward.
Mr Gatward has been in the news for painting the apostrophe on the street sign of the street where he lives – St John’s Close. His story has been flying round the internet for over a week. My favourite is the Times version, which gave details about the confrontation with his neighbour, also a former soldier.
Mr Gatward is so committed to the cause of using language properly that he even boycotts the ‘five items or less’ queue, on the grounds that it should be ‘five items or fewer’. Presumably, he is also boycotting Birmingham, where last January the council decided that possessive apostrophes would no longer appear on street signs.
