Fun with Apostrophes (LONG)

Wed Feb 26 16:20:44 UTC 2003

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, 
GulPlum wrote:

I'm only going to comment on two separate 
issues here, so here goes the snipping...

<snippity snip>

> I must admit that I find this kind of error 
> not only unforgivable, but incomprehensible. 
> I mean, surely the authors of these fanfics 
> have read the books? How is it possible to 
> have read the books and not know that 
> Harry's mum's name is Lily, or how to spell 
> McGonagall? (posts inter alia on the main 
> HPFGU list in the 24 hours make those 
> particular examples spring to mind). This 
> isn't a question of education or knowledge, 
> it's a question of straightforward 
> repetition. How can people who claim to 
> have read all the books several times not 
> have noticed the spelling of frequent 
> proper names? I'm prepared to offer a 
> little leeway to people who read the books 
> in one of the (few) translations which 
> also translated the names, but even so, if 
> these people are attempting to write 
> stories in English, they should as a very 
> basic necessity have been able to have 
> read the books in that language.

Just to provide another possibility, I think 
there is at least one sight-impaired member 
on our board who has only "read" the audio 
versions of the books, and therefore has a 
hard time spelling some of the names.  
Another problem is the all-too-common "I'm 
replying because I just can't stop myself, 
but I don't have my books at hand, so bear 
with me" post.  McGonagall is a hard name 
for people unfamiliar with it, so I'm more 
than willing to forgive misspellings of 
names than of other words (which I'm willing 
to forgive as well).

<snip>

> Some people have suggested that an 
> apostrophe followed by the letter "s" is 
> sometimes considered grammatical. I have 
> yet to encounter anyone with the faintest 
> idea of what they're talking about who might 
> consider this appropriate. 

If I remember correctly, I believe that when 
one is talking about numbers and letters, it 
is acceptable to use 's.  The 1920's, for
example.  I usually tend to write 1920s (as 
I figure the lowercase 's' tells readers what 
I mean), but I don't think it's specifically
frowned upon to use an apostrophe in that 
situation.  And we all know about the 
ABCs/ABC's, right?  I can see someone coming 
up with the argument that we should write 
numbers out with a regular pluralized ending, 
but how do you spell out the letter 'a' when 
talking about a report card, for instance?  
You can say, "Back in the twenties I did
such-and-such," just as easily as you can 
say, "Back in the 20's I did something-or-
other."  But you can't give me another 
example of how to write, "I got three A's on 
my report card."  Unless it's 'As'.  And
that's too easily misread as the word 'as'.

> It's true that 
> grammar and spelling aren't fixed but evolve 
> over time, but apostrophes are unlikely to 
> disappear from *correct* usage any time 
> soon. People who have never learned to use 
> them correctly are (thankfully) still in a 
> minority when it comes to the 
> professionally published word (and cerainly 
> academia) and the "better" schools still 
> churn out pupils with a reasonable standard 
> of knowledge of these things. It's 
> interesting that of the posters who replied 
> in this thread, the majority choose to label 
> themselves as "grammar purists" (or 
> similar): I'm not sure whether or not this 
> is a distorted view because people who don't 
> know any better are too embarassed to reply, 
> but it is nevertheless a sign that the 
> battle is not yet quite lost.

There's only a battle to be fought at all if 
you think there's a "correct" way to write 
things in the first place.  ;)  I liked the 
argument that someone (David?) presented a 
few messages ago in this thread that before 
the industrial revolution and the printing 
press, spelling was nonstandard because it 
was unimportant.  Then, of course, Noah 
Webster and his British counterpart get a bug 
up... um... get a "bee in their bonnets" and 
start complaining that everyone's spelling 
everything wrong!  And about apostrophes - if 
you think about it, they're really just a 
silly convention for written English.  I mean, 
you don't actually pronounce apostrophes when 
you speak, do you?  Personally, as a linguist, 
I try not to get too upset when I see "mis-
written" English.  If you say what you see 
written, it's easy enough to get the gist of 
what the person is trying to say, and as 
speech was the original form of communicating 
ALL languages (except sign, of course), one 
could always make the argument that 
apostrophes are just mangling the way we have 
to process English in our heads.

That said, I still get really upset when 
someone pluralizes with 's.  Especially 
newspapers.

JenP, apologizing for the length of this one.