Sir, – Alison Healy’s Irishwoman’s Diary on apostrophes (“Getting possessive about apostrophes – Alison Healy on the rise of the punctuation warriors”, November 21st) makes me wonder whether these warriors ever stop to ask themselves what the point of the apostrophe is.
English is the only Germanic language that uses an apostrophe to mark possession (Kevin’s letter). German, Dutch, Flemish, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish all manage very well without the apostrophe (Kevins brev in the Scandinavian languages).
In English it was used variably and inconsistently, even by the most literate writers, until grammarians successfully promoted the snob value of first codifying the use of the apostrophe and then knowing how to place it correctly. This gives today’s punctuation warriors a cheap way of displaying their own literacy and highlighting others’ lack of education.
I like to think that greengrocers selling both “cabbage’s and apples” are carrying on a long tradition of variable punctuation. – Yours, etc,
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KEVIN McCAFFERTY,
Tertnes,
Norway.