What's Confusing About the Apostrophe?
Yahoo News has a story about a decision in Birmingham, Britain, to drop the apostrophe. "England's second-largest city has decided to drop apostrophes from all its street signs, saying they're confusing and old-fashioned," says the Associated Press press report. The city has been dropping the apostrophe since the 1950s in signs such as "St. Pauls Square" or "Acocks Green." But now the dropping of the apostrophe has been made official in the city. Good material for arguments on grammar, good material to share with students. Arguments similar to the Arkansas which was resolved in the Supreme Court, when the state fought for the right to retain use of the apostrophe and an additional "s" in Arkansas's wealth". Of course, some creative writers are smiling about Birminghams decision , and Derrida would be laughing too, about the arbitrary nature, the centerlessness, of signifiers and their signifieds. At least this decision is comin...