# Could you live without apostrophes? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 10, 2006, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-without-apostrophes/339394 "2006-01-10T22:49:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-without-apostrophes/339394/21 "2006-01-11T18:23:42Z")
I need them! How else would I get my strophes apo’d? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-without-apostrophes/339394/22 "2006-01-11T18:24:21Z")
> [@Ty Cobb](#): > > It’s so rare that people consider what’s already been done elsewhere. > > Techie’s call it NIH, Not Invented Here, which is why Microsoft won’t even consider features others have until they become defacto standards. Yeah, and look where Microsoft’s practices have gotten them. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f19dbf/32.png) [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-without-apostrophes/339394/23 "2006-01-11T18:41:56Z")
You made a mistake in the thread title. It should read “Could you live without apostrophe’s?” 😃 The solution isn’t to scrap an entire gramattical rule because people are too lazy to apply it correctly. The solution is to take the ten minutes one needs to learn the rule, then just freakin’ do it. I really just don’t understand the trouble in using possessive apostrophes. It certainly seems to be worse than contractive apostrophes. I blame people not realizing there’s a difference between pluralization and possession. -OMD, who loves the word _I’d’ve_ because it has two apostrophes. ---
**Author:** ![SSG\_Schwartz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SSG\_Schwartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSG_Schwartz)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-without-apostrophes/339394/24 "2006-01-11T18:48:54Z")
I cant live without apostrophes. Ive begun to hoard them. Ive saved three already. If you care to donate your unused, servicable apostrophes, forward them to SaveTheApostrophe@grammer.edu Thanks in advance for your contribution. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-without-apostrophes/339394/25 "2006-01-13T00:36:09Z")
> [@Sgt Schwartz](#): > > I cant live without apostrophes. Ive begun to hoard them. Ive saved three already. If you care to donate your unused, servicable apostrophes, forward them to SaveTheApostrophe@grammer.edu > > Thanks in advance for your contribution. What…do you plan…on …doing with these… hoarded…apostrophes? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Cyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@Cyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyn)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-without-apostrophes/339394/26 "2006-01-13T02:40:34Z")
I couldn’t ---
**Author:** ![sundog66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@sundog66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sundog66)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-without-apostrophes/339394/27 "2006-01-13T02:41:56Z")
> [@Sgt Schwartz](#): > > SaveTheApostrophe@grammer.edu “gramm **e** r”? I hope you’re just trying to be ironic. Propper spelling, people! ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-without-apostrophes/339394/28 "2006-01-13T09:24:33Z")
Will no one think of the science fiction and fantasy novelists? What would we do without apostrophes to write names like R’lyeh, and phrases like “ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn?” Every sci-fi or fantasy character needs an apostrophe! ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-without-apostrophes/339394/29 "2006-01-13T12:45:06Z")
Do you know how long it took me to learn to use apostrophes correctly? Five minutes, tops. My English teacher told the class how to use them and how not to use them, and it’s stuck ever since. Any reasonably sharp kid should have no trouble at all learning the apostrophe’s proper use. English is a wonderfully intricate and beautiful tongue. It’s gotten that way by continually having new things added to it, not by having “unnecessary” parts pared away. Could I live without apostrophes? Yes, but I’d be perpetually angry at the dumbing down of my favorite language. Deliberate spelling and grammar reform is a bad, bad idea, IMO. Nobody could agree on how to change the English language anyway, so let’s just let it mutate naturally. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-without-apostrophes/339394/30 "2006-01-13T12:54:58Z")
Here’s another vote of confidence for apostrophes. They serve, at the very least, the important function of differentiating otherwise identical words, like its/it’s. Much like the accent in Spanish that differentiates potato/daddy, if/yes, he/the, is/this, “I eat”/how, etc. > [@Happy Lendervedder](#): > > The adverb of punctuation, IMHO, used only by people who have difficulty expressing themselves and teenage girls. I beg to differ, sir! > [@alanak](#): > > To my knowledge, Norwegian gets by without apostrophes for the possesive case, expect is certain rare cases. I don’t see why English couldn’t do the same. Non-starter. Two completely different languages. Norwegian probably handles the problems apostrophes solve in different ways. Spanish doesn’t use apostrophes at all (at least, I can’t think of an example), because it solves all of those problems in its own language-specific ways. English can’t do the same because that’s just not how the language works. > [@sundog66](#): > > “grammer”? I hope you’re just trying to be ironic. **Propper spelling** , people! ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-without-apostrophes/339394/31 "2006-01-13T15:01:18Z")
> [@mrklutz](#): > > ofcourseicouldlivewithoutapostrophesotherpunctuationorevenspacingbetweenwordsjustastheancientsdidbutisurewouldntwantto Just fortherecorditonlytookmeabout5%to10%longertoreadthatsentancethatonethatisproperlyspaced. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-without-apostrophes/339394.md?page=1)