The Losing Apostrophe Battle

“I can’t help feeling that our punctuation system, which has served the written word with grace and ingenuity for centuries, must not be allowed to disappear without a fight.” —Lynne Truss, “Eats, Shoots and Leaves” |———| I trust Ms. Truss is manning the barricades in her native Britain, where in Birmingham the city elders have decided to drop all apostrophes from street signs. An Associated Press story says officials concluded the pesky little tear-dropped symbol is “confusing and old-fashioned.” The phrase sparks the image of a slightly loopy aunt, perhaps too fond...

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