Apostrophe Angst.

I’m having apostrophe angst. Oh, it’s not because I’m not sure if I need one or not — it’s because I’ve seen several that shouldn’t be there.

On my drive to work there’s a billboard I often glance at. The most recent artwork is promoting a radio station that plays music from the 80s and 90s. Alas, whoever approved the design of the billboard overlooked the errant apostrophes… 80’s and 90’s.

It’s a common mistake to add apostrophes to decades but it’s wrong.

Early this morning I saw more errant apostrophes in an otherwise well-done presentation. A financial planner referred to “fee’s” charged by planners. No, no. In this case the fees are plural, not possessive. And, there are certainly not any missing letters.

At the same networking breakfast I had an excellent conversation with a website builder. He noted with chagrin that writing the content for a new site is his greatest challenge. In spite of all the new technology we have available, it is the art of communication that still needs practice.

Words matter. So do spelling and grammar. Need to brush up on apostrophes? See our previous post.