Thanks to reader Blake Evans for alerting me to this story about Birmingham City Council banning the apostrophe in its road signs.
A tad worrying that the head of the city’s transport scrutiny committee, Councillor Martin Mullaney, seems to think that a basic grasp of the apostrophe is an advanced level skill.
Don’t know what the schools are like in Birmingham, Martin, but I had mastered it before the age of ten.
There was a surfeit of apostrophes at Waterloo Station this morning:
http://twitpic.com/1am7s
They started off so well, too. Then they went ruined it by hedging their bets the second time round.
If your politicians are confused by apostrophes, you’ve got an even sorrier bunch than we have here in the U.S. And that’s really saying something.
Yes, Brad, they are, indeed, pretty hopeless or despicable or both.
“St. Thomas’ Hospital” (as per the directional signage around Waterloo) or “St. Thomas’s Hospital” (as per my sheer editorial common sense). Please tell me i won the arguement with The Boyfriend last night…?
Hi katypea – you inspired me to write a new post about this question. You’ll find the answer there!