"What i's the purpo'se of the apo'strophe?" Topic

I am now convinced that it ha's come to mean nothing more than "Warning" An S i's coming up!"

TMP i's particularly infe'sted with the 's being u'sed for plural's today.
I gue's's u's con'servative old fuddy-duddie's' will ju'st have to cope.
It''s the wave of the future, I gue's's!

D'u'd'e'

The apostrophe is also necessary when writing the names of aliens.

K'pok of the V'lorians agrees!

Vogons never use the apostrophe, it was eliminated to make way for a transgalactic throughway.

honestly i just dont have time for punctuation grammer or spelling anymore between real life and work and the webernet im to busy to be bothered subsequently in the future all posts from me will be stream of consciouness decipher as you want or not this is how its got to be i wish it wasnt this way but really i just dont have the time and frankly just cant be bothered anymore donald~

I use it all the time. It makes me look more intelligent. I sometimes use quotation marks and capital letters just to give the grammar Nazi's (see!) fits here on T'M'P too… and the extra periods to indicate I am drifting off in thought, or not.
VR
James Mattes

Why do Americans call full-stops periods?

I've always wondered.

You're all being very s'illy. S'top it.

Vogons never use the apostrophe, it was eliminated to make way for a transgalactic throughway.

Nah, it's just that they have to fill out too many forms to use one.

But, the Vogon's LIKE to fill out form's!

If it weren't for apostrophe's, it wouldn't be possible to spell Scottish Gaelic. Observe:

An saoghal ged 's farsaing gum b'fheàrr a bhith tathaich 's a' ghleann.

Cha b'e d'fhàgail bha 'nam mhiann.

Díle bho'n t-sneachd 's tu gun fhasgadh o'n fhuachd.

'nuff said.

T'h'a't'''s j'u's't i't -'- a'p'o's't'r'o'p'h'e''s r'e'q'u'i'r'e s'o m'a'n'y f'o'r'm's e'v'e'n t'h'e m'o's't f'o'r'm's'-'h'a'p'p'y V'o'g'o'n i's' d'a'u'n't'e'd b'y' t'h'e p'r'o's'p'e'c't'.'

You guys seem to be experts – maybe you can help me on this one:

When indicating the possessive, the apostrophe normally the s (the boy's toy). When the owner is plural, the apostophe comes after the s (the boys' toys). When the owner is a plural like men or women, where does the apostrophe belong? The men's toys, or the mens' toys?

Thanks in advance!

Mark Twain did not see the need for punctuation marks in his writing.When his editor complained, Twain sent him an entire page of nothing but various punctuation marks in random order. His enclosed note said, " Put them wherever they seem to fit." The editor never raised the issue again

BTW To will, for collective nouns not ending in "s" the apostrophe goes as in a normal word: children's hour , men's room

John, the official Dutch spelling of The Hague, 's Gravenhage, confirms your warning theory.

The purpose of the misplaced apostrophe is to give the grumblers something harmless to complain about.

Thanks, ML. Crisis averted, thanks to the punctual response from TMP!

Wow, you are all so far gone into the computer age that you forget what a time saveing device it was when actually using pen and paper.
When paper was very expencive and hard to come by. I'm really shocked at how casually you dismiss an important piece of history, when we have people here who know the color of a lapel in a given war at a certain year.
That's extremely disheartening when I see the erosion of older values that're not upheld by the last of us.
Excuse me while I go puke.

Is that subtle sarcasm, designed to counter the OFM's overt sarcasm?

Or have you just had a whooshhhhhhh! moment?

Sorry. 'whoo'shhhhhhhh!'

Sorry. Carry on.

I suspect we use them because they are in excess supply from when letters and words were first created. Just like the letter "k."

There are so many in excess, we add them to words where they aren't used or needed at all: Knife, Knee, Knight, etc.

Same with the Appo-strophie!

JJ

I thougt they were used to make writin' sound more like speakin'

It's the apo-strophe-calypse.

The silent K at the start of words was originally sounded- Monty Python and the Holy Grail was correct.

Pass me all the soldiers weapons. Do I get the kit from one guy, or do I want to be overwhelmed as the whole army turns in its guns?

Don't need commas?

Perhaps Mark Twain will be able to tell what is meant by

He had a long felt one.

In context things make sense – out of context they do not.

1. Q. Does he have a belt?
A. He had a long felt one.

2. Q. Did he just pass wind ? ( polite )
A He had a long felt one

1. Q. Does he have a belt?
A. He had a long felt one.

Why did he feel his belt for ages?