A brief confession about apostrophe rage 27 April 2008


I have a confession to make… apostrophes give me the ire.

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.

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 supermarket advertising a Coy Carp for sale. Was it too shy to get on with its current owners?)

Camilla Zajac, Green Light Copywriting, January 2008

Written by Camilla Zajac

Camilla Zajac is an award-winning copywriter dedicated to uncovering what’s exciting and unique about organisations and empowering them to communicate that with impact. Learn more about copywriting services from Green Light Copywriting.

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