Copymattersblog

A case of apostrophe rage Sunday April 27, 2008

I have a confession to make…apostrophes make me angry. But only when they’re used in the wrong place – or sprinkled liberally like too much garnish (see previous blog entry). I will stand up and admit it – I am one of those Eats Shoots and Leaves types who fantasise about taking a big red marker pen and doing vicious things to shop signs, noticeboards and anything else that offends my low punctuation threshold.

So I was interested to hear about TEAL. The Typo Eradication Advancement League is a brave band of people travelling across America, taking on grammatical injustice wherever they find it. Their mission? To challenge every poorly written sign they see, with marker pens and stickers and face-to-face dialogue with the perpetrators. And you can follow their courageous journey step by step. Right now they’re taking on rogue typos in South Dakota. Next time I’m in the high street and see a sign for newspaper’s , I’m calling in TEAL. (But I did enjoy seeing a small ad in my local Co-op advertising a Coy Carp for sale. Was it too shy to get on with its current owners?)