The book Eats, Shoots & Leaves is only available in the UK at the moment, but the author has received an advance for a US edition, one would hope in time for the 2004 holiday season. It sounds like just my kind of book.
A book about the serial abuse of apostrophes and commas, which readers of The Telegraph helped to write, has become a surprise Christmas bestseller.
Eats, Shoots & Leaves (subtitled The Zero Tolerance Approach To Punctuation) chronicles “the mind-bogglingly depressing misuse of the apostrophe”. Last night it was the number one bestseller on the Amazon.co.uk chart – a position usually reserved for thrillers or books about boy wizards.
The author, Lynne Truss, said yesterday that she felt moved to describe the feeling of being “an isolated nerd” because the sight of a misplaced apostrophe or absent comma made her feel irritated, and occasionally violent.
Meantime, I’ll just visit the Apostrophe Protection Society (whence the image above).
(via Cronaca)
Book’s like this, are sorely needed! Its very annoying, to see all those sign’s with apostrophe’s in the wrong place’s.
Okay, I can’t do that anymore. It actually hurts! (Bet you expected me to weigh in on this issue, huh, Dave?)
I’ve noticed that words ending in vowels are most commonly the victims of bogus apostrophization, to coin a phrase.
What’s most boggling to me, though, is how people can use apostroiphes in some words and not others, in the same sentence (as in your graphic example).
Also annoying to me are the ubiquitous “.99¢” price signs. I want to plunk down a penny and demand that they sell to me at the listed price!
That was one reason I chose the sign I did. I mean, why TOOL’S but not TOILET’S?
Error is one thing. Inconsistency is another.
By the way, do you know the joke from whence the book gets its title? If so, tell it for those who haven’t heard it. I think your readers will find it amusing.
Gaak! Belay that. It’s in the article. I should have known.
🙂