Bob's Quick Guide to the Apostrophe

Bob the Angry Flower ^ | ca. October, 2002 | Bob the Angry Flower

[Eala]

A colleague sent this to me today. I took a look at the site site and determined the cartoonist to be yet another hate-filled leftist (amazingly so), one of the sort who "feels" instead of "thinks" -- but on this point he's correct. (Some amusing, if deliberate, errors in the examples.)

[null and void]

Sure! Bob the angry flower can get away with it. He doesn't seem to have a butt.

In other words he doesn't have an *...

[dighton]

Proles of all types have terrible trouble with the apostrophe, and its final disappearance from English, which seems imminent, will be a powerful indication that the proles have won. “Modern Cabinet’s,” announces a sign in the Middle West, comparable to its Eastern counterpart, “Rutger’s Electrical Supply Company.” Sometimes the apostrophe simply vanishes, as in Ladies Toilet. But then, as if the little mark were, somehow, missed, it, or something like it, is invoked anomalously as if its function were like underlining:

Your Driver: ‘Tom Bedricki’
‘Today’s Specials’
‘Tipping Permitted’

-- Paul Fussell, Class.

[billorites]

The crux of the biscuit is the apostrophe.

[Sloth]

He doesn't point out that "its" is the exception in the possessive case.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Years ago, I worked with a guy who dearly loved his apostrophes. His business letters were such an embarrassment I talked our secretary into allowing me to polish them up before she typed them. She didn't know puctuation, either...

[dighton]

In other words he doesn't have an *...

Nathan Hale n. An asterisk (see also splat, ASCII). Oh, you want an etymology? Notionally, from "I regret that I have only one asterisk for my country!", a misquote of the famous remark uttered by Nathan Hale just before he was hanged.

-- The New Hacker's Dictionary.

[alaskanfan]

Frank!

[Uncle Miltie]

Male deer have antlers. If I wanted to comment on them generally, where does the apostrophe go?

"All deer's (?) antlers drop off in the fall."

[el_chupacabra]

THANK'S!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I'd write it, "All deer drop antlers in the fall.."

[grobdriver]

"All deer's (?) antlers drop off in the fall."

That a stylistic one:
"Deers' " or
"Deers's"

Like the possesive of a name that ends in an "s", like my daughter Chris:
"Chris' "

[N. Theknow]

Now all we need is a primer for the use of the words "your" and "you're" and "their" and "there" and "they're" and we would be all set.

[Tony in Hawaii]

So is "yours."

[Miss Marple]

Don't forget "lose" and "loose!"

[Revolting cat!]

Its great except that those who need to know such things tend not to read them! Now, excuse me for axing, but what's a apostrophe?

[rederic]

The Department of the Interior's Geological Survey's topographical maps seem to have done away with apostrophes. This may not be completly true, but it certainly is in many cases. For example: White's Point has become White Point. This has resulted in geographic error and historical error. Mr. White, who was an early resident in the area, has become a color. Certainly, viewed from the sea, there is nothing that would cause one to name this particular point of land "white."
rederic

[VadeRetro]

For all you do (wrong),
This thread's for you.

[antidisestablishment]

Looser! LOL

[msru]

I like this thread alot