Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Grammar Geek Giggle for Today

Every day I get a not-so-gentle punctuation tip from grammar guru, Lynne Truss, via her 2009 Eats, Shoots & Leaves 365-day calendar. Today's quote is:
The apostrophe indicates the omission of letters: We can't go to Jo'burg (We cannot go to Johannesburg -- perhaps because we can't spell the middle bit).

That gave me pause for thought. A lot of locals (including me) write "K'ville" instead of the full name of a local town, Kernersville, NC. Maybe people think we can't actually spell it?

2 comments:

Wendy said...

Lynne, when I moved my base from Orange to Alamance, I had to remember that not everyone automatically knows where I mean if I refer to HB, CB and CH. In Orange, we don't even bother with apostrophes!

Wendy Kimbel, ACP, NCCP

Lynne DeVenny said...

Here in th' big city, we think an apostrophe makes us look educated, and not purely lazy...:)

Also, Wendy, I haven't forgotten your question about professional portfolio content. I asked an N.C. State Bar ethics expert, and will be blogging about this topic in the near future.

Lynne