From This is London:

With its cute message, Marks and Spencer’s sleepsuit was just the thing for a new baby’s first Christmas.

There was only one problem – that bane of grammar-aware shoppers, an unnecessary apostrophe.

The suits have emblazoned across the chest the phrase “Mum’s dreaming of a quiet Christmas just like the one’s she used to know”.

A little southern-style grammar for y’all this morning:

“Y’all,” being authentically Southern, does things differently. It adds an apostrophe and “s,” as though “y’all” were a noun. So the proper possessive of “y’all” is “Y’all’s.” The first apostrophe signals the omission of the letters “o” and “u” in “you all.” The second signals the possessive case.

(Link)

As one of its final acts last term, the U.S. Supreme Court issued Kansas v. Marsh, a case involving the constitutionality of a state death-penalty statute. The 5-4 decision exposed the deep divide that exists among the nation’s intellectual elite regarding one of society’s most troubling issues — namely, whether the possessive form of a singular noun ending with the letter ‘s’ requires an additional s after the apostrophe.

(Link)

This press release about Lands’ End founder Gary Comer’s death mentions that the apostrophe in Lands’ End was “a typo that became part of the firm’s history”.

From the Lands’ End website:

Incidentally…

…a lot of people ask why the apostrophe in Lands’ End is in the wrong place. There have been some silly explanations along the way, but the truth is, it was a mistake.

It was a typo in our first printed piece, and we couldn’t afford to reprint and correct it.

In the years since, the misplaced apostrophe has continued to grace our name and our label. And while it has prompted some raised eyebrows among English teachers, it also sets us apart as a company whose continuing concern for what’s best for the customer is unmistakably human.

Well, at least they admit it’s wrong. Now if someone could just explain the subtitle of the next Pirates movie. The lack of an apostrophe is even being blasted slapped by one of Disney’s own divisions.

Anyone want to try to explain what that might mean?
Is it some Aussie-ism, or just some random alliteration?

It’s a catastrophe

One of TFF’s eagle-eyed, if slightly pedantic, readers makes a very interesting point. He addresses it to you leaguies, particularly you blokes who were staring longingly out the window at the playing fields when Mrs Smithers was trying to teach you proper grammar. He notes that when a try is in dispute and the referee on the ground calls in the video ref, there is a very interesting display on screen when the video ref decides he can’t properly decide and it is best left to the man on the field. For the screen says: REFS CALL, and I think we can all see the reader’s point.

Look!
Up in the sky!
It’s a bird!
It’s a plane!

No, it’s … why it’s … Apostrophe Man! Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, more grammatical than a goat, Apostrophe Man is sworn to put apostrophes in their proper place, and before our very eyes he has done it again! It should be: REF’S CALL.

Thank you, Apostrophe Man, your work here is done.

(Via the Sydney Morning Herald)