Apostrophes: Do they matter?

[MickeyTheBrick]

Does the misuse/omission of apostrophes irritate you? What about any other punctuation errors or turns-of-phrase? eg 'basically....' or 'so I turned round and said...'
One of the ones that does my head in is when people think they are speaking correctly by saying eg 'it was for Paul and I' instead of 'it was for Paul and me'.
Incidentally, can I pre-empt my stalkers and say, yes, I am sometimes anal retentive.

[anneasquith]

well if you insist,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,stags are very handsome beasts.

[boxtops]

we have a new hot-desk booking system at work. It says on the front page "Book You Desk Here" - grrr.

[MarkRae]

"Deffo", Mickey...??? You'll be saying "would of" next...

[mike11111]

I think that Sir Roger Casement, if he were alive, might have something to say on this point. Statutes are traditionally written without punctuation. When the aforesaid was tried for High Treason under the Treason Act of 1351, where an imagined comma would be placed determined his guilt or innocence. Unfortunately for him the court imagined the comma to be in a place other than where the defence argued. He has gone down in history as "The man hanged on a comma".

[tearinghair]

I wouldn't normally wander into the realm of religion on this site, but this example is particularly appropriate for today. Apologies in advance - not intended to upset anyone. One translation of the New Testament Greek gives the words from the Cross as ' I say unto thee, today thou shalt be with me in Paradise', and another one as 'I say unto thee today, thou shalt be with me in Paradise'. Misplaced comma, different meaning.

[MickeyTheBrick]

Lol, Mark. Probably. Are you always so tiresome and predictable?

[MarkRae]

I most certainly am, Mickey - you've not been here long...

[snags]

''you've not been here long''

Think you're mistaken there...

[mike11111]

Precisely, Tearinghair. This is the specious, and easily refuted argument the JWs and some other sects use to defend the notion of unconsciousness of the dead till the Day of Judgement.

[MarkRae]

I was being generous and not letting on to the Ed that everyone knows who this is, just in case he gets banned again...

[boxtops]

LOL, some people settle in quickly

[MarkRae]

But give themselves away so easily...

[MickeyTheBrick]

Good example, tearinghair :)
It brings to mind the story of the Yorkshireman who was buried and his family wanted 'Lord, he is thine' put on his headstone. When the headstone was complete, it said 'Lord, he is thin'. The Yorkshireman's family went to the stonemason and told him that he had missed the 'e' out. He apologised and said he would rectify it. When they went back, a few days later, the headstone read 'Eeh, Lord, he is thin'.

[jackthehat]

http://farm3.static.f...895582_4ff652a614.jpg

[scotman]

For Saxy

Possibly you didn't speak clearly enough.

[DTCwordfan]

An adapted Vanna Bonna quotation applies to this thread.

"There are abundantly more English professors in the AB world than there are authors."

[scotman]

apostrophe is an anagram of 'the poor sap'

[ClareA]

MarkRae will appreciate this one, I'm sure.
A friend of mine received a snotty letter from his bank about going a little overdrawn and was told that 'this may effect your credit rating'. He was tempted to reply that they may indeed 'effect' his credit rating as soon as they liked.