I'm sorry. The rant you just planned out is for not. I know the apostrophe in the title is misplace. However, if, for some reason, the title did not make your blood boil, this thread may be important.
Why is the apostrophe so misused today? Why is it that people insist on ignorance of this important part of grammar? I've been seeing it more and more. Why? Is it because of the internet? What can we do to help this little punctuation mark? Does it even matter? I have decided to place this in World Events rather then The Tavern as the apostrophe suffers ignorance on a global scale.
FAQ:
I know not the way's of the apostrophe's, will you please teach me?
I would be happy to. (Deliberate misuse of apostrophes in the quote.)
You do know that by trying to protect it you are only halting the evolution of language, right?
If language is evolving into a repulsively nonsensical mass of words and pictograms, I say halt it.
I agree with you, but what can I do about it?
Correct it. Ask store owners to change their signs. lead a protest. Create pointless forum threads. In short, be a general nuisance to the point that people around you find themselves better off using the apostrophe correctly rather then dealing with you, but not to the point you get punched in the face.
So, if you agree that we should try to help the apostrophe I'd love to know. If you think it's a waste of time, that's even better, as I would love to debate this with you.
Hmm, Xzeno, have you looked into the history of the semicolon at all? My English teacher last year gave us a paper to read about it, and it basically has no definite use. The way people use semicolons depends on who the literary minds of the century are. In the 1600's, I believe, it was used in place of commas.
So; people would often; to a modern person's annoyance; write like I am currently.
1600's the English language was not too modernized. It was still transitioning from middle English. that would be a good reason why the apostrophe was not used that way. But now the apostrophe actually possesses a grammatical value in the English language, and it is taught one way, through out schools.
I find it used as a connector between two independent clauses. I also find it is used as a sort of "super comma." (I visited Bryce Canyon, Utah; Chimera Tower, Iceland; and Crocodile, Louisiana during my vacation.)
Ok, what I'm anout to say is completely off-topic; but I hear that the MLA is making it grammatically correct to say dates and decades without the apostrophe. So it would be the 70s rather than the 70's. 1940s rather than 1940's. Strange stuff... at least I heard this from my teacher who is in the MLA... so, yeah
The only person truly capable of wasting your time is yourself.
With this said, Xzeno's original post has a more astute commentary than most people seem to pick up on. The existence of the thread in itself is its own point, and like other political causes, the words themselves constitute pressure in our public awareness. Therefore without condoning spam, I appreciate every incarnation of this thread as the continued valuing of proper grammar by people.
I've noticed people using the apostrophe to (correctly) represent a missing "e" in past tense verbs, such as laugh'd (laughed), but more commonly in internet abbreviations, like lol'd (loled) or Rick-roll'd (Rick-rolled). All I can say is this: Don't. Where the apostrophe is needed for pronunciation, maybe, but when it is clearly unnecessary, (such as in the examples above) don't do it. I know you do it because... actually, it's beyond me what would posses someone to do this, just try to avoid.
I would never write loled, as lol is an abbreviation and looks completely weird if written as a "normal" past tense verb. Why would you say it is clearly unnecessary?
Laughoutlouded - technically the correct past tense would then be something like L'dOL? But because lol is such an abbreviation, that doesn't really make much sense... The internet creates its own grammar rules for things that belong to it. It's not like lol should ever be part of an English essay anyway.
Subconsciously, I think the strongest reason for using abbreviations like "lol'd" and "rick-roll'd" is along the lines of what Zophia is saying. In standard English, acronyms are not verbs. Therefore while "lol'd" looks odd, so does "loled", and "lolled", as the latter are phonetically and grammatically misleading respectively.
Therefore I would argue (though this is mooted by the fact we are talking about internet grammar of which any rigorous debate is of questionable value) that "lol'd" is actually more appropriate (or at least familiar) than "loled" and "lolled", for reasons of pronunciation. There are no real rules to cover its application. However "Rickroll" is not an abbreviation, therefore its use is anachronistic. Furthermore I do believe that Rickroll may have qualified for inclusion in standard English dictionaries (please check me on this) and if this is the case then standard grammar rules apply. "Rickroll'd" would then be anachronistic english, and the appropriate form would be Rickrolled. However, I see "Rickroll'd" used frequently, probably as a carry over from the "lol'd" phenomenon.
Is this considered "world event", for if it has gone to a level SO big, then that is sad. Other then that I don't see why this belongs here. Maybe we can delete this topic and go for something much more general: [i.e]-
Internet Grammer
For if this Apostrophe catastrophe [XD] is used outside of the IM world, then schools need to push the envelope and get crackin because everyone who gets to highschool wont know what to do if MLA comes around.
Well that was embarrassing. In the UK, no apostrophe is used in abbreviations, but in the states, Strop's right. Regardless, my point about Rickroll'd and other non-abbreviations receiving the apostrophe still stands.
Internet grammar needs its own rules...
That's the point, no it doesn't. We have perfectly good grammar rules, so why would we make new ones? The only reason would be so online forum posters (like you and me) could revel in our bad grammar for god knows what reason. (As I previously stated, I just can't imagine.)
