http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nati...syndication=rss

If this is for real (it isn't April 1st yet, so I'm going to assume yes), I'm not quite sure what to think about this. Some of the arguments seem silly: a little mark enriches the language versus "I don't want to need a high school diploma to find a restaurant"? Huh. I didn't realize the apostrophe was so confusing to some native English speakers, I guess.

It seems really sad. It seems faintly Newspeak-ish to me.

That's dumb. Crazy Brits and their craziness.

Brummies != normal brits, they don't speak the same as the rest of us either.

This kind of article really brings out the weirdos though. "They're such sweet-looking things." What.

EDIT: Similarly, Caerulo's "newspeak" comment. Seriously, man.

*throws apostrophes at Shiri*

The apostrophe needs to die.

I mean, don't you guys remember how all of them bunched together when Narsrim was a Tahtetso and would kill someone with a Crowtongue title?

Egregious apostrophitis in Lusternia is only a symptom; that doesn't mean apostrophes, when used responsibly as part of a well-balanced and nutritionally complete diet, aren't perfect safe and healthy taken in moderation.

what do the apostrophes add in a street sign?

As I said before, there are some countries we would be better off without. England, France, most of Europe, The Persian Empire, Quebec, southern California, and Earth.

What do they remove?

Reminds me of a different discussion that was had here in Norway, where some people were demanding that the local hospital in Bergen spends 250k kroner, which is about 31250 $, on putting up new signs written in New Norwegian, despite the fact that it'd only be adding two letters and removing one.

Apparently, the ability for some people in England to find the place they are looking for.

Though according to the article, that's not true.

That's only for GPS. Not the people who need a high school education.

This is part of my "stop catering to stupid people" campaign. If an apostrophe confuses you because you don't have a high school/secondary school education, that is your own fault. And besides, you are taught what an apostrophe is in first grade.

I blame Crowtongue for the desire to kill the apostrophe.

after looking into this more carefully it appears that the article is just missleading.

The problem was that some people were complaining that "King's Square" does not belong to the king, and therefore should not have an apostrophe.

The city government decided to just abolish all apostrophes instead of having that debate.

Don't worry. If the apostrophe dies, we can always replace all apostrophes in Crowtongue with dashes. It's sort of like a rotated apostrophe anyway.

You won't be satisfied until all punctuation is dead, will you? Hmph!

Which is a pretty dumb argument to begin with. When there is one little thing wrong with something you don't go into massive overhaul mode.

So is anybody familiar with Kurt Vonneguit's work?