The Catastrophic Apostrophe

First things first. I do not pretend to be an English expert, nor do I proclaim myself as a great exponent of English grammar. In fact, you will be able to find several grammatical errors in this blog itself. But that is not the point.

Now that I have got the disclaimer out of my way, let me come to the point. The topic is as the title suggests – the apostrophe. I believe it must be the most misused punctuation in English language. I am tired of seeing it misused in official mails, personal mails discussion forums, blogs, TV channels and just about everywhere. Hence, I have decided to raise, well…not a tirade but at least a small voice of discontent about the same via my blog.

The usage of apostrophe that bugs me the most is when it is used for forming plurals. For example, I have increasingly seen people make use of boy’s in place of boys; ignorant of the fact that both give entirely different meanings.

Another confusion is one that arises with the usage of it’s and its. People seem to ignore the fact that it’s is used to denote it is and its is used to denote possession. The proper usage is well documented here.

I will just point to one more maddening usage of the apostrophe. This is when using your instead of you’re. I fail to understand how sentences like “Your the only one” are supposed to convey the meaning they are intended to.

It really looks like an aggressive awareness campaign is to be conducted to save poor old apostrophe. While I was browsing the web about the inappropriate usage of apostrophe, I was pleasantly surprised to see the website of the Apostrophe Protection Society. It also provides some examples of misuse of the punctuation mark in real life.

Friends, let's all strive to avoid the misuse of the apostrophe.

My pen pal

I was in my 6th standard when I got my first pen pal.
It was some sort of initiative by an international organization to promote interaction by children from various countries.I do not remember the specifics of it.At that time,computer and internet wasn't as popular as it is now and hence the mode of communication that was to bring about this interaction was by mail, or now as it is called, the snail mail.My school supported this initiative and we were all given forms to fill up.The idea was to fill up these forms and send it to the organization,which will in turn give our addresses to other children around the world.They would be sending us mails,thus facilitating interaction.
Now the only reason I decided to submit a form was that my friends were all submitting them.Being the ultimate lazy bone, I never had any intention of replying to any mail that I was going to receive as part of this program. So there I was,filling up the forms,which basically was about my hobbies,interests etc etc.After a month or so, many of my friends received mails from their penpals: kids from italy,germany etc. I thought,well,looks like they didn't find a pen pal for me.But after another month,when I got back home after school,there it was, a mail from my pen pal. It had the Italia stamp on it.I tore open the letter and started reading. It was a short letter from a person named Giuseppe. I do not remember the contents properly now.The only thing I do remember is that I immediately took a paper and started writing a reply.I even forced my father to take me to a studio to take my passport sized photograph to attach with my letter.This was indeed strange behaviour from me.I seldom showed this much enthusiasm for anything.My parents were amazed and confused at the same time. I send the letter the very next day itself,complete with my smiling passport size photograph.
It was now the time for the half yearly exams and the letter from Italy was forgotten for the time being.
But after a few days,I got restless as there was no reply to my letter.As every child does in hours of desperation,I went to my mom for comfort.
"Amma, why isn't she sending a reply to my letter?"
Amma replied "Who?"
"My pen pal.Who else?"
"Your pen pal? Is it a she?I thought it was a boy"
I was speechless for a moment.I had never really thought about this possibility.The possibility that Giuseppe was a boy.All the excitement towards the whole pen pal situation was basically caused by a simple reason: I thought my pen pal to be a girl. I was so excited that I never gave it a thought that it could be a guy.
After a few seconds,I cautiously asked my mom "Amma,Giuseppe is the name for a girl, right?
My mom had somehow pieced the whole thing together and was on the verge of bursting out laughing.She said "Well,it could be.But I am not so sure". And she left it at that.
I was feeling really embarrassed at this point of time.All my fantasies about beautiful Italian girls vanished from my mind.I didn't take up the matter again and my mom also left it at that.
Now, about the reply from my pen pal...well, it never came.
Apparently Giuseppe also thought Anoop was a girl from India and was shocked to find the pic of a chubby faced boy in reply to his letter.
So as I said in the beginning,he was my first pen pal...and my last.

Beneath the starry skies...

Beneath the starry skies, I lie
As all around, time fly
Feels like I am frozen in time
Indeed there is no respite
From the phenomenon that we call life

With these meaningless verses I start a brand new innings in blogosphere.