SHOULD our street signs include apostrophes?
Does the lack of one in St Peters Avenue mean there was more than one St Peter?
Does Peoples Park still belong to the people? And is the misuse of the punctuation mark a worrying sign of the decline of civilisation or simply an irrelevance to all but the most stringent pedant?
Those are the burning questions being asked by the Grimsby Telegraph today as North East Lincolnshire Council revealed that its policy is not to use apostrophes in street name signs across the borough.
It comes after the furore caused by Mid-Devon Council, which last month announced a ban on punctuation in street signs to avoid "confusion" – only to reverse the decision in the face of a furious outcry from guardians of the English language, who described the move as "contemptuous", "disrespectful" and "unhelpful" to teachers.
Although NELC has stopped short of a complete ban, a spokesman for the council confirmed that any new signs erected will not feature the punctuation mark.
However, existing signs that do possess an apostrophe will not be altered until they need to be replaced.
The situation has resulted in a number of puzzling discrepancies across the borough.
In Cleethorpes, for example, Whites Road (or White's Road), has three different street signs – two have an apostrophe and one doesn't.
So which is correct?
It is most likely that the road derived its name from having a landowner or inhabitant by the name of White – in which case there should be an apostrophe indicating possession.
But it is also possible that the name derived from the fact that several people of that surname lived on the road, and that the "s" indicated the plural, making the apostrophe redundant.
As English teacher Emma Rogers points out it is impossible to be sure without tracing the history of the street name's origins.
Cooks Lane in Great Coates is similarly ambiguous, but a more clear cut case is St Peter's Avenue, clearly named after St Peter and therefore worthy of an apostrophe.
But do people care?
A resident on Hardys Road who did not wish to be named said: "It makes no difference to me. It still says the same with or without the apostrophe."
Ms Brown, of Whites Road, said: "I didn't notice the difference in the signs. But if it has an apostrophe it must be named after someone and I think we should know this history and not just forget about it."
Danes Close resident Claire Rendall, 26, said: "I go by what's on the street sign. I have never written it with an apostrophe and I can't recall getting a letter that used an apostrophe in the address. I have never really thought about it much.
When asked why the no-apostrophe policy was adopted by NELC, a council spokesman issued the following response: "As your readers will no doubt be aware, we're not the only organisation guilty of making the occasional grammatical error.
"There are often inconsistencies in newspapers, magazines and other media. Perhaps, as suggested by the author of the column where this story first appeared, it's time we all brushed up on our grammar."
The Apostrophe Protection Society has published a handy guide to using the apostrophe correctly. On its website, www.apostrophe.org.uk, it gives the following tips: They are used to denote a missing letter or letters, for example: I can't instead of I cannot I don't instead of I do not it's instead of it is or it has They are used to denote possession, for example: the dog's bone the company's logo Jones's bakery (but Joneses' bakery if owned by more than one Jones) This applies to all nouns, so the correct versions are Jesus's disciples, Keats's poems and so on. Please note that "its", which is usually used as a possessive adjective (like "our", "his" etc), does not take an apostrophe – The dog ate its bone and we ate our dinner However, if there are two or more dogs, companies or Joneses in our example, the apostrophe comes after the 's'. For example: the dogs' bones the companies' logos Joneses' bakeries Apostrophes are never ever used to denote plurals! Common examples of such abuse (all seen in real life!) are: Banana's for sale which of course should read bananas for sale Menu's printed to order which should read Menus printed to order MOT's at this garage which should read MOTs at this garage 1000's of bargains here! which should read 1000s of bargains here! New CD's just in! which should read New CDs just in! Buy your Xmas tree's here! which should read Buy your Xmas trees here!
Editor's Comment THE British language is changing – of that there is no doubt. But that has always been the case – if you look at text from years ago, it is clear that the mother tongue has altered and will continue to do so. Society has altered beyond recognition from the days gone by and we are simply bound to be influenced by the different cultures we experience today. There is nothing wrong with that – as a nation, and an island nation at that, it is important that we do embrace a degree of change. The question to debate is how far should our language be allowed to change – how we speak and how we write? And if we take it a step too far does that alter the way our society thinks and acts? Some would say yes and to retain our heritage we must ensure that we uphold certain standards within out culture. What do you think and is it right to drop apostrophes from our street names? Follow the editor on Twitter @michellelalor
