# One for the apostrophe pedants **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-strips\ **Created:** [August 16, 2026, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-for-the-apostrophe-pedants/1032363 "2026-08-16T13:33:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2026, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-for-the-apostrophe-pedants/1032363/21 "2026-08-16T20:45:02Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I think they are both lusting after a guy, not a girl. Also, I liked the strip. [60s dad]All the boys look like girls these days![/60s dad] I suppose it could be a guy. The rest of the group are. So the dad is probably mad for the same reason just with a not unsavory twist. > [@Chronos](#): > > But he slipped up and left in “questions” and “I’m”. Being inconsistently wrong is more maddening to people. > [@saucywench](#): > > The mad dad can’t see the boy. The boy is behind the building. In the real world I would agree. This strip is beholden to Escher. > [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > The confused woman in the foreground is thinking about the guy who got an ice cream cone dropped on his head…with such impact he is apparently unable to produce a single thought. That was the puzzle I needed to solve. The woman is thinking about her red-headed kid, the one who is on top of the roof dropping the ice cream on his dad. She’s a redhead but the dad isn’t. What are the cottages on the far left thinking about? A peace symbol or a Mercedes? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2026, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-for-the-apostrophe-pedants/1032363/22 "2026-08-16T20:56:12Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > The woman is thinking about her red-headed kid, She is looking for her kid, and it’s worried she can’t see him. > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > What are the cottages on the far left thinking about? A peace symbol or a Mercedes? I missed those. I vote peace symbol, but don’t know why they are thinking of anything. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2026, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-for-the-apostrophe-pedants/1032363/23 "2026-08-16T21:01:56Z")
The beach cottages have been busy all day, but now it’s evening, and they’re looking forward to some peace and quiet. And the power line is thinking of electricity. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > She is looking for her kid, and it’s worried she can’t see him. And because she knows he’s a troublemaker, the kind of kid who climbs upon roofs and drops ice cream on people. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2026, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-for-the-apostrophe-pedants/1032363/24 "2026-08-16T21:04:18Z")
Presumably, the cottages have people in them. The real puzzler is why the transformer on the power pole is thinking of electricity when it’s already full of it. Or that an inanimate object is thinking at all. Maybe that’s a warning that the machines are getting ready to strike. Took me a while to see the seagull that’s sitting on the bench like a human. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2026, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-for-the-apostrophe-pedants/1032363/25 "2026-08-16T21:22:52Z")
So, a bunch of people have commented that they don’t know all of the context and backstory. And the OP identified the grammatically-annoyed character by name, so presumably, he’s familiar with the strip. So how about it, @Steve_McQwark ? What can you tell us about these other characters? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2026, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-for-the-apostrophe-pedants/1032363/26 "2026-08-16T21:31:31Z")
> [@saucywench](#): > > the boy and girl may have planned to meet each other and the boy knows the dad doesn’t like him, so instead of waiting where her dad could see him, he is behind the building. On second thought, maybe that’s the point. They couldn’t see the boy but she’s thinking of him hopefully and he’s thinking of him grouchily. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2026, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-for-the-apostrophe-pedants/1032363/27 "2026-08-16T21:46:13Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > The worst one that I ever saw in my life was an email at work > > > Charle’s is out sick today. There’s that annoying inconsistency again! It should be: > Charle’s i’s out sick today. > (So France’s will be chairing todays meeting’s.) ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_McQwark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@Steve\_McQwark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_McQwark)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2026, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-for-the-apostrophe-pedants/1032363/28 "2026-08-17T00:42:14Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > So how about it, @Steve_McQwark ? What can you tell us about these other characters? Sorry, been doing family stuff today. The strip is called “Wallace the Brave” and Wallace is the boy in the middle thinking about being abducted by a UFO. His best friend, Spud, is standing in front of him thinking about the ridiculously tall ice cream cone. The red-headed woman on the left is his mother and the man with the ice cream on his head is his father. The boy on the roof is his younger brother who is quite possibly feral. The girl ordering chunky monkey is Wallace’s classmate, Amelia, and the apostrophe girl is another classmate, Rose. They are the main cast of the strip. i don’t know any backstory about the love-struck teens and the angry dad as I don’t recall ever seeing them before. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2026, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-for-the-apostrophe-pedants/1032363/29 "2026-08-17T00:49:43Z")
> [@Steve\_McQwark](#): > > The girl ordering chunky monkey I knew about Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey ice cream, but I couldn’t make out how a dead monkey’s head was supposed to be chunky. And the attendant, who should know that name, had a sick look on his face as if she had asked for dead frozen monkey on a cone. Ah well, real artists write stuff to please themselves and hope that others follow along. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2026, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-for-the-apostrophe-pedants/1032363/30 "2026-08-17T05:53:13Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > hat’s where my credit card companies send all the apostrophes they strip out of my RL last name. As an apostrophe-haver, I have no idea what credit card companies do because every company and computer system is different. When you renew at a pharmacy, they ask for your prescription number and then read off the first 3-4 letters to confirm. The two pharmacies I use do different things. If phone support asks to spell your name, I come prepared with account numbers to try first to save everyone time. The especially delicious event is when one part of a computer system can create an apostrophe account, but another part breaks upon encountering it, but doesn’t tell you why. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2026, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-for-the-apostrophe-pedants/1032363/31 "2026-08-17T08:47:47Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > I see comment’s like this on Facebook post’s all the time. Its surprisingly common but the apostrophe has it’s place. ---
**Author:** ![phs3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2026, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-for-the-apostrophe-pedants/1032363/32 "2026-08-17T15:44:13Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > As an apostrophe-haver, I have no idea what credit card companies do because every company and computer system is different. Related: when we got married, my wife took my middle name AND my last name as her new last name, because my last name is very, very common. Her maiden name was unique in the world–literally, her grandfather was an orphan and they made up a name and nobody else has it. So she went from one extreme to the other. Anyway, it’s not hyphenated. Which I think (39 years later) was a mistake, because it’s always a crapshoot whether she’s under “x y” or just “y” as a last name. Plus our state government can’t handle multi-word last names, so THEY hyphenate it, which means that depending on where a record originated, it might be “x y” “x-y”, or just “y”. This limitation must really irritate all the “van der _whatever_s” to no end! Computers should make this stuff easier, but of course they make it worse, alas. (Having just retired after 46 years in the biz, I feel qualified to make that observation.) ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2026, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-for-the-apostrophe-pedants/1032363/33 "2026-08-17T16:10:20Z")
> [@phs3](#): > > Computers should make this stuff easier, but of course they make it worse, alas. > **[Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Names – With Examples](https://ctemm.me/falsehoods/names-with-examples/)** ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2026, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-for-the-apostrophe-pedants/1032363/34 "2026-08-17T16:12:12Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > I’m more sneery at the people that believe every single word that ends with an “s” needs an apostrophe. > > I see comment’s like this on Facebook post’s all the time. Me too. Here is my favorite apostrophe comic strip: > **[Bob's Quick Guide to the Apostrophe, You Idiots](https://www.angryflower.com/247.html)** > > Bob's Quick Guide to the Apostrophe, You Idiots Or as I read somewhere else: _Remember, kids, apostrophes do NOT mean, “Here comes an ‘s’!”_ ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2026, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-for-the-apostrophe-pedants/1032363/35 "2026-08-17T16:30:59Z")
One of the helpful tips in that article: > [@](#): > > Jean-Pierre is not the same as Jeanpierre, nor is it the same as Jean Pierre – Jean-Pierre is a single given name, while Jean Pierre is two separate given names. Sadly, this isn’t true either. “Jean Pierre” might be two separate given names, but it might also be a single two-word given name. I am more tolerant of those who mistake the apostrophe in “its” or “it’s”, though, because “its” does seem to break the rule. If I have a dog named Fido or Fifi, I can say “Fido chased Fido’s tail”, or “Fifi chased Fifi’s tail”, so it seems like I ought to be able to say “it chased it’s tail”: Apostrophe-s to indicate possession, just like usual. I think that what’s going on there is that “its” isn’t actually “it” with an s attached to it; it’s a different word, like “her” vs. “she”, that just happens to look very similar. But it’s a subtle nuance that’s easily missed. ---
**Author:** ![phs3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2026, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-for-the-apostrophe-pedants/1032363/36 "2026-08-17T16:35:52Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > [Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Names – With Examples](https://ctemm.me/falsehoods/names-with-examples/) Good find! Thanks. My late dad was a linguist; he “invented” the Apostrogun. You could point it at a sign and it would add or remove an apostrophe as appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2026, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-for-the-apostrophe-pedants/1032363/37 "2026-08-17T16:38:01Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I think that what’s going on there is that “its” isn’t actually “it” with an s attached to it; it’s a different word, like “her” Like hers which isn’t her’s. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2026, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-for-the-apostrophe-pedants/1032363/38 "2026-08-17T17:08:42Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I think that what’s going on there is that “its” isn’t actually “it” with an s attached to it; it’s a different word, like “her” vs. “she”, that just happens to look very similar. But it’s a subtle nuance that’s easily missed. This is exactly right. In most cases, as in your example of “she” → “her”, the possessive determiner form of a pronoun is usually a completely different word than the original pronoun, except in the unfortunate case of it → its (where it’s also a completely different word with a confusing resemblance to the original pronoun). Maybe a useful way to think about it for the easily befuddled is that a possessive pronoun **never** takes an apostrophe. This also prevents blunders like “that book is her’s” instead of “hers”. If there’s an exception to this rule, I’m not aware of it. So whenever an apostrophe appears within a pronoun, it always represents a contraction, like “she’s going out” or “she’d rather have it her own way”. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2026, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-for-the-apostrophe-pedants/1032363/39 "2026-08-17T17:17:01Z")
The Spanish custom is to have two last names, but the standard last name which is the father’s surname goes first. So Mr. Gómez and Mrs. López have a kid, who gets named Juan Gómez López. Most documents like DMV etc will inevitably remove the diacritics **and** interpret Gomez as a middle name and Lopez as a last name, even if steps are taken to enter both in the “Last name” field, so the usual practice is to hyphenate to avoid this so no middle if it’s not present, last name Gómez-Lopez which may or may not have an actual hyphen. That’s to say nothing of the fading old-fashioned custom of including the maiden name to the mother with “y” in between. Portuguese has a similar custom but the order is opposite so the kid is João Lopes Gomes (or Joao or even John). Problem mostly averted there. In English-speaking couples who give their kids a double barrel name, there’s no clear custom that dictates the order, so you’ll see both, but again hyphen saves the day. Sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2026, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-for-the-apostrophe-pedants/1032363/40 "2026-08-17T18:24:08Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Sadly, this isn’t true either. “Jean Pierre” might be two separate given names, but it might also be a single two-word given name. I agree with you. BTW, “Pierre-Yves” is a common name, but I am not sure about (Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott) Trudeau— how many names are there in there, exactly? Elliott was from his mother, and his father was Joseph Charles-Émile, but is it “Philippe” + “Pierre Yves” or “Philippe” + “Pierre” + “Yves”, or have I already gone off track? > [@wolfpup](#): > > unfortunate case of it → its (where it’s also a completely different word with a confusing resemblance to the original pronoun). If you read really old literature, it was something like (h)it → his, but I do not think that “its” and “it’s” are completely unrelated to “it”— you have “it” + “s”, and there _are_ older documents where they do use an apostrophe. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-for-the-apostrophe-pedants/1032363.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-for-the-apostrophe-pedants/1032363.md?page=3)