Thursday, April 16, 2009

Apostrophe Use

There is a sign near the main gate entry point of base. It's an advertisement for AT&T. I wish I had a picture of it to share, but sadly, I don't. The interesting thing about this sign is the incorrect use of 2 apostrophes. Now, I concede that in reading through my blog, you'll find grammatical errors. However, it's a blog, not a printed vinyl sign advertising my business.
Anyway, the first line of the sign reads "FREE PHONE'S". So, it makes me wonder what is free about the phones? The buttons? Should it read FREE PHONE'S BUTTONS? The second line of the sign reads "DISCOUNT TO MILITARY EMPLOYEE'S". I realize that grammar and writing are not my strong subjects, but, this sign makes me want to pull into the parking lot with a big sharpie and fix it. Apostrophes generally show possession (or contractions), not plurality. You would think that whoever ordered the sign would have known better...OR the publisher of the sign would have thought to check for correctness. But, no one did, so the poor sign sits there with two lonely abused apostrophes. I'm glad to get that off my chest. Whew.

Now, here's an appropriate use of an apostrophe. Kyle's Flight Crap. This is the title of a new file folder I put in the file cabinet. Unless you have the honor of living with one of the world's best aviators, you probably don't realize how many random scraps of paper I pick up around the house weekly that have something to do with Kyle's job. What should I do with them? I ask Kyle to go through and see what is trash and what he'd like to hang on to. These papers end up in a stack on the stairs. So, instead of trying to weed through them myself and figure out what is trash and what is keep, what has important information on it, and what doesn't, I finally started a folder, abbreviated KFC - short for Kyle's Flight Crap. This is the correct use of an apostrophe.

Have a great day!

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