It wasn’t just a misplaced apostrophe, it was a misplaced Yorkshire apostrophe that caused the furore. “Gerrit in’t bin,” said the new municipal anti-litter posters. “Tha what?” came the chorus of complaints.
But a misplaced apostrophe row involving North Yorkshire council has raised a bigger question: do we even need apostrophes?
“I say put the apostrophe where you like,” said the unmistakably Yorkshire poet and broadcaster Ian McMillan. “People get so cross about apostrophes and I say, ‘Don’t worry about it. They’re going to die.’”
North Yorkshire council this week conceded they had erred. Posters that said “Gerrit in’t bin” should have said “Gerrit in t’bin”. The council said it had corrected the sentence in its downloadable signs.
But Rod Dimbleby, chair of the Yorkshire Dialect Society – established in 1897 and said to be the oldest dialect society in the world – would have liked the council to have gone further.
“A humble apology would be nice,” he said. “We’re doing our best to keep our dialect alive, but you see what we’re up against when authorities like that get it wrong.”
McMillan, who last year translated all of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville into Yorkshire for an opera production, is relaxed about the mistake.
He told the Guardian that in his eyes the apostrophe is “a movable feast. It is kind of there as a guide to the unwary.
“If I was writing it I would miss the apostrophes out altogether. I would even write it as one word: gerritintbin.
“The apostrophe can become something which hangs in the air. It confuses people and they get a bit nervous of it. It’s there to represent that thing that we all do that isn’t actually a word or a letter, it’s really just a kind of intake of breath and people get a bit worried about it.
“If it was me, I’d miss the apostrophe out.”
To anyone who is aghast at that: “I’d like to remind people they are not rules, they’re conventions.”
McMillan, sometimes known as the Bard of Barnsley, said he loved it when he saw the commonly mangled greengrocers’ signs for “tomato’s”. “I say put it where you like,” he said.
He’s relaxed about the apostrophe but enthusiastic about the council’s use of dialect. “I’m a litter picker myself, so I would say “gerrit in t’bin”. But perhaps they should bin the apostrophe too. Gerritintbin, along with the apostrophe.
“The more we talk about dialect the better, and it will help with the cultural and linguistic levelling up that in the end will happen. As I always say, the royal family will speak like us … that’s my plan.”
McMillan’s relaxed approach is a stark contrast to that of Bob McCalden, chair of the Apostrophe Protection Society.
“Apostrophes matter,” he said. “It is important they are used correctly because it makes the written use of English that much clearer.”
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Apostrophes have been about for hundreds of years, he said, and for good reason. “It is really a matter of whether you want to use the English language correctly or incorrectly.
“I’m no expert on Yorkshire dialect, but English grammar suggests the council got it wrong.”
Misplaced apostrophes rightly annoy people, McCalden said. “There’s a small chain of restaurants down here in Surrey that is driving me mad at the moment. They have special Tuesdays and they put the apostrophe in Tuesdays. I don’t think they do it to just irritate me.”
He said the protection society was thriving, with 4,000 members. “I’m delighted that it does arouse passion in other people as well, not just me. If I was the only person ranting about it I might give up.”
The new row is not the first time North Yorkshire council has got into trouble over apostrophes. Earlier this year it emerged that the council would ditch them in new street signs to avoid problems with computers, meaning, for example, St Mary’s Walk becoming St Marys Walk.
It made headlines around the world, resulting in a climbdown.
Keane Duncan, executive member for highways, admitted punctuation was causing “a bit of a headache” at the council.
“We have got punctuation on these litter signs – but unfortunately it’s in the wrong place. So we’re taking a few steps forward, a few steps back. We’re learning and hopefully one day we will get punctuation exactly right here in North Yorkshire”.
The row comes as grammarians prepare for International Apostrophe Day on 15 August, an event created by former Guardian journalist David Marsh. “No active plans for it,” said McCalden, “but I hope it gets a few people to think about the subject.”