Grammar sticklers mourn 'Waterstones' apostrophe

THE HIGH STREET bookshop chain Waterstone's has announced that, as part of its re-branding campaign, it will change its name to Waterstones. The possessive apostrophe indicated that the store had once been owned by Tim Waterstone. But the current managing director, James Daunt, said the spelling change would simplify internet searches and email. The move has caused consternation among grammar sticklers, but other commentators took a more relaxed attitude.

It's just plain wrong

John Richards, chairman of the Apostrophe Protection Society, is reported in The Daily Telegraph saying: "It's just plain wrong. It's grammatically incorrect. If Sainsbury's and McDonald's can get it right, then why can't Waterstones. You would really hope that a bookshop is the last place to be so slapdash with English."

So another apostrophe bites the dust, says Lindsay Johns in the Daily Mail. Apparently the company's decision has something to do with convenience in our digital age, but it's "a poor excuse".

How sad that yet another business chooses to blow an uncouth raspberry in the face of grammatical convention, adds Johns. "This committing of ritualistic grammatical hari kari [sic] is nothing other than wanton stupidity."

Let's remember the apostrophe

Well, it is the bookshop's right to punctuate its name any way it chooses, says Philip Hensher in the Telegraph. But for many of us, "there is always going to be a little missing step before the s, not quite a glottal stop, not quite a breath - just the silent fragment of time that marks a missing apostrophe".

Who cares?

There was a time when I would have bristled with indignation at this affront to punctuation, says Tom Utley in the Daily Mail. My "pedantic pen would have flown from its scabbard" to defend the apostrophe. But then "the realisation suddenly swept over me... that I simply didn't care whether Waterstones, a mere shop, styled itself with an apostrophe or not. I can't describe how liberating this feels."

Add your own apostrophe

Here's a tip, says David Marsh in The Guardian. "Always carry a large felt-tip pen and bottle of Tipp-Ex with you to add apostrophes to signs where appropriate and remove them from plurals. It will make you feel much better." ·