Grammar Gripes and Other Psycholinguistic Squawkings

Gah! Everyone's adding arbitrary apostrophe's to their family name's in their well wish'es for New Year's!

*sigh*

My sister's family home is apparently Busch Gardens.

I'm not enough of a grammar nazi to correct her (and her friend).

 

Ugh.

 

You should see what my other sister does. Her family name ends with "z," but she always does "from the Xxxz's" instead of "from the Xxxzes." It's hard enough to consider correcting anyone, let alone those whose names end in "s" or "z." The latter seem like lost causes.

I think these people consider plural forms of their names misspellings. The apostrophe maintains the integrity of the name or something. I don't know why else people would use one in this case. It's not like they add apostrophes to other types of words. Maybe proper nouns throw them off. For example: a tale of two cities vs. a tale of two Canada's.

I dunno. It just irks me.

 

Perhaps they just like the way it looks. Throw 'em in wherever you wish. Like adding salt or pepper. The gratuitous apostrophe irks me too.

Have you looked at the names of any athletes lately? Apostrophe's must be thought to add an extra measure of something to a name. University of Nebraska wide receiver De'Mornay Pierson-El managed to get both an apostrophe and a hyphen in his name. Can't get more with'it and up-to-date than that.

 

I actually like this, though I'm more into the SF/fantasy applications, such as with Drizzt Do'Urden.

Grammar Girl : Apostrophes in Science Fiction and Fantasy Names :: Quick and Dirty Tips ™

 

Thanks, Bara'ka Gur'u for the interesting link.

L'indy

 

Ha'Sean or "Ha Ha" Clinton-Dix is my favorite one.
--- merged: Dec 31, 2014 8:32 PM ---

Nerd.