# Apostrophe abuse **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 15, 2007, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apostrophe-abuse/388060 "2007-01-15T13:50:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2007, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apostrophe-abuse/388060/21 "2007-01-17T04:27:32Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] Great Scott! It’s… it’s… a backwards raised comma! Time to call in Editrix. _She’ll_ whip them into shape. 😃 [/QUOTE] I see this more and more, in more and more “official,” professional publications. One more thing we can blame on Bill Gates. Him, plus a healthy dose of ignorance, since the workaround is so mindlessly easy. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2007, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apostrophe-abuse/388060/22 "2007-01-17T12:07:49Z")
[QUOTE=Spoons] Of course, if we do have a comic, it’s important that our heroes never get dates with Noun girls. But the Verb girls will always be happy to date our heroes. Why? Well, verbs conjugate. Nouns decline. 😃 [/QUOTE] I’d say you’re right justified in making that decision. Those noun girls just hate being reminded that they’re just subjects. > [@Sunspace](#): > > Yes. An inflamed colon is no laughing matter. Indeed. If left untreated it may require medical attention and possibly partial removal. Then all you’re left with is a semicolon. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2007, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apostrophe-abuse/388060/23 "2007-01-17T13:08:05Z")
[QUOTE=Mindfield] I’d say you’re right justified in making that decision. Those noun girls just hate being reminded that they’re just subjects. [/QUOTE] And you _know_ how they object to that. [QUOTE=Mindfield] Indeed. If left untreated it may require medical attention and possibly partial removal. Then all you’re left with is a semicolon. [/QUOTE] It could be worse. It could be colon cancer. ---
**Author:** ![Jelymag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jelymag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jelymag)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2007, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apostrophe-abuse/388060/24 "2007-01-17T21:30:08Z")
Many years ago while visiting parents (suburban D.C.) I passed by a strip mall that was home to an establishment whose bright sign read “Physic Reading” and erupted into laughter. I agree, we can chalk it up to laziness. Occasional errors or poor typing ability are one thing; not bothering to learn about the very easy rules of punctuation is something else. Every year I notice a significant declination in my students’ abilities in the realm of basic abilities. (e.g. reading, writing, simple arithmetic) I wonder that they have the ability to develop better computer skills than I have but they can’t construct a simple sentence. Eventually they won’t be able to do anything- but damnit, none of these kids will be left behind! (They’ll all be together in the same sub-standard place…) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2007, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apostrophe-abuse/388060/25 "2007-01-18T13:58:13Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] But we get kind of tense beforehand. [/QUOTE] That just means you’re not in the mood. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2007, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apostrophe-abuse/388060/26 "2007-01-18T14:10:17Z")
[QUOTE=Spoons] We did have some fun with that, didn’t we? “Conan, what happened to the Infinitive?” “He had to split.” **Sunspace** , I think we’ve found a new villain! To add to the thread, I’ll mention what I once saw in a neighbourhood barber shop: “Ladie’s Hair Cut.” I cringed. [/QUOTE] Years ago I was the editor of a small-town weekly newspaper. My replacement–a journalism major–came up with the following in a headline (a _headline!_) a couple weeks after my departure: Your’s I think I wept. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2007, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apostrophe-abuse/388060/27 "2007-01-18T17:48:58Z")
There’s a commercial for the super-powered Nitro or something where the power-car gives the jalopy a jump in the stripmall parking lot and sends it rocketing skyward. But in the background is a store sign that says BEACHS 😕 Now, shouldn’t that be BEACHES or BEACH’S or even BEACHS’ ? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2007, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apostrophe-abuse/388060/28 "2007-01-18T18:45:19Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] Years ago in Des Moines I used to pass by **THE JOHN ROBERT’S STUDIO.** I never did find out whether his name was John Roberts, John Robert, or possibly _The_ John Robert. [/QUOTE] Theodore Johnathon Robert. Whats’ the problem? Seriously, people, stop ragging on apostrophe abuse. It make’s you look like a cun’t. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2007, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apostrophe-abuse/388060/29 "2007-01-18T19:58:49Z")
At my daughter’s dance studio they have compartments for leaving correspondence, labeled with the family names: The Smith’s, The Johnson’s, The Brown’s, etc. No one else seems to have noticed. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apostrophe-abuse/388060/30 "2007-01-19T06:02:26Z")
I found this wonderful usage scrolling through [Dave Black’s](http://www.daveblackphotography.com/sports-images/sports-classics.htm) web site. It descibes the sixth picture down: “Michelle Kwan falls during Ladie’s Olympic Final, Salt Lake, 2002.” Besides the apostrophe abuse, wasn’t it called the _Women’s_ Olympic Final? Nice pictures, lousy copywriting. ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apostrophe-abuse/388060/31 "2007-01-19T06:26:06Z")
This Christmas Eve, I spotted under a friend’s tree several presents wrapped in paper emblazoned with children frollicking in the snow and the phrase “Lot’s of Snow Fun!” I’m beginning to think that we’re losing the war against apostrophe abuse and it fills my heart with woe. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apostrophe-abuse/388060/32 "2007-01-19T13:47:06Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] But we get kind of tense beforehand. [/QUOTE] Tense?? We’re way past tense, we’re living in bungalows now. (Groan…) ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apostrophe-abuse/388060/33 "2007-01-19T13:56:01Z")
[QUOTE=postcards] Besides the apostrophe abuse, wasn’t it called the _Women’s_ Olympic Final? Nice pictures, lousy copywriting. [/QUOTE] It looks like it is called the [Ladies](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_skating_at_the_2002_Winter_Olympics) event. Thank you for not saying " Womens’ ". 🙂 [QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] Tense?? We’re way past tense, we’re living in bungalows now. (Groan…) [/QUOTE] Ouch. That’s gotta yurt. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apostrophe-abuse/388060.md?page=1)