Tuesday, September 01, 2009
The Death of the Apostrophe
The long rumored death of the apostrophe occurred last night at 9.42pm Eastern Standard Time. The final death blow was a text message exchange. According to Verizon Wireless it read, "Lauras boys goin to da party." Reply, "Sorry cant make it." After millions of pinprick woundings in various emails, Facebook posts and previous text messages this was the final blow to the aging and atrophied apostrophe. Commentators such as Lynne Truss had sounded the alarm many years ago, but the long decline was unstoppable.
Farewell, old sod, theyll be less punctuation without you.
Farewell, old sod, theyll be less punctuation without you.
Labels: Language
Comments:
Anon-
Wow! A fascinating catch, because you are entirely correct, I meant to write therell.
However, reviewing and re-reading I realized how I got theyll. Pronunciation. Grammatically it wasnt what I wanted to say. But verbally I practiced a lazy elision that made it sound just right.
Many thanks for the thoughtful eye.
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Wow! A fascinating catch, because you are entirely correct, I meant to write therell.
However, reviewing and re-reading I realized how I got theyll. Pronunciation. Grammatically it wasnt what I wanted to say. But verbally I practiced a lazy elision that made it sound just right.
Many thanks for the thoughtful eye.
