Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Apostrophes Matter

Humble apostrophe
How you are mishandled, abused
Neglected and misunderstood
You create such meaning
Taking the place of absent letters
Indicating possession
Without you is confusion
Let us be clear
Yes, let’s!
The apostrophe must be respected.

Does the fact that punctuation inspires me to craft poetry on its behalf make me a nerd? Perhaps. Okay, yes. But I will gladly take on that label if it means defending the cause of the apostrophe, the comma, and my personal favorite, the semi-colon. (Yes, I know, the fact that I even HAVE a favorite punctuation mark has "nerd" written all over it.)

Nevertheless, the fact that apostrophes really do matter is today painfully clear to Mr. Lou Cella, the sculptor who fashioned the new statue of Ernie Banks that was unveiled at Wrigley Monday. Engraved on the granite base is the inscription, "LETS PLAY TWO."

When asked about the missing apostrophe, Cella said, "I'm the sculptor, I'm not a writer." The Cubs have vowed that it will be fixed before the Cubs are back in town for their next home game. "We'll put in the most beautiful apostrophe you ever saw," Cella said.

See, now he gets it--apostrophes don't just matter, they can be downright beautiful.

Click here to read the article about it in the Chicago Tribune.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Don't worry, Suz. I love your nerdy-ness! I suppose my favorite form of punctuation would have to be the question mark, since I tend to speak a lot of sentences that necessitate its use. :)

Jason Boyett said...

Thanks, Suz, for the comment on my blog. Returning the favor -- and letting you know I totally stand with you on the nerdiness of being passionate about removing improper possessives from our society and inserting them when necessary. Grammar geeks (and Cubs fans), unite!

Let us play two.