James Harbeck argues the English language would be better off without them:
- Most of them dont add anything useful.
- George Bernard Shaw did it and so can you.
- Many apostrophes are really only there for condescension (I found this his most interesting argument)
- Even when an apostrophe can add something sueful, we usually get by without it.
- They add confusion.
- Eliminating them would free them up for use as single quotes.
- It will make the rules better.
— via The Week
I rarely use apostrophes when Im typing text messages, but thats mostly because the spell checker usually adds them. And, when it doesnt, its no loss. Except to my snobbery about ‘writing right.’
(Now, on the other hand, dont get me started about the Oxford comma.)
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