I can’t hold it in any longer. It may seem too obvious a subject for an editor-type to blog on, but the misuse of the common apostrophe makes me so angry I can actually feel my blood pressure rising when I see yet another prime example.
So I edit Dynamic Business, Australia’s largest circulating magazine for SMEs. Yes, SMEs, not SME’s. Why why WHY would you put an apostrophe in there? Surely one of the most basic punctuation lessons you learn at school is that the apostrophe is not used before s just because something’s plural? I bet you wouldn’t call the plural of apostrophe apostrophe’s. Then again, maybe you would.
It’s not just the literally challenged doing this, which is what gets to me most. We’re talking PR people, intelligent businesspeople and even—though it pains me to say it—fellow journalists.
If I see SME’s one more time—unless of course it means something belonging to an SME or because an SME is doing something—I may just pull my hair out. I’m thinking of banning anyone who commits this word crime from the pages of DB, so watch out. This is a punctuation crackdown.
I’m getting off my high horse now. Don’t even get me started on the misuse of quote marks or we’ll be here all day!
Yours pedantically,
Word nerd x
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but is it wrong or is the apostrophe just in place of “nterprise” like the apostrophe instead of “o” in didn’t?
by the way someone asked be to check their “grammer” the other day
Dear Mad Men.
Yes, there are plenty of other things to get worked up about (and I do, believe me!) but communications professionals not being able to use punctuation? That’s a pretty valid concern, if you ask me.
Today I received an email from a PR including the words tradegy and deterimed. It’s called spellcheck, people!
I would love to make comment’s…, but will “abstain”…..
Surely their are more important thing\’s to get all worked up about!? I mean does it really bother you\’se all that much? Why? Were you all repeat offenders at school and feel the need to pass on the pedantic ravings of your teachers to those of us still unable to get our heads around something so meaningless? You can still understand what were trying to say/write so build a bridge.
You dont hear me whining about no-it-all nerds who feel the need too preach correct punctuation and high school english to us 24 seven.
Love it.
I’m a bit pedantic about capitalisation as well. Thank goodness for my red pen
Apostrophe violators should be shot. Or jailed. Either way, I’m not fussed. The perfect and wonderful English language is being butchered – and this pains me, especially when I see it done by journalists in every newspaper and magazine.
Overall, I blame the advent of SMS text messaging AND Twitter, which in their attempts to keep the written communication between individuals to a bare minimum, results in chronic and lazy abbreviation, such as ur for ‘your’, 4 for ‘for’, etc. It makes me sick!
Could not agree more. I tutor little kids and the amount of times they think you need an apostrophe in “its” to refer to the ownership of things? Good lord. Get your possessives and prepositions right people! And just because SME is an acronym… grammatical rules don’t change. They just don’t.
Indeed. Rant justified. It seems the first casualty of progress is grammar; closely followed by manners and tasteful construction. The apostrophe is the most abused of the already mistreated punctuation family, so kudos to you for making this stand. Perhaps you could head up an alternate RSPCA – the last letter representing said typographical symbol.
Amen’s to that.
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