Dear members,
Welcome to the April 2024 newsletter from the Apostrophe Protection Society. As always, thank you for being members and for supporting the APS. There's been another good influx of new members since the last newsletter in February; I've already welcomed you with a separate email, but I'll welcome you again here. Welcome!
It's been just over 2 years since I relaunched the APS, initially rather quietly, and it's been so good to see awareness of the APS growing steadily, and sometimes in larger leaps. We're now heading towards 4000 members and I've lost count of how many times we've been mentioned in the media. Every one of these mentions helps to publicise our mission to protect the correct use of the apostrophe.
On that topic, I was rather pleased to see an article in "DELCO Today" a few weeks ago (thank you, Wendi Rank) about the Apostrophe Protection Society, prompted by the St Mary's Terrace story that I covered in the last newsletter. I loved the article, and I thought you might do so too. You can find it here: https://delco.today/2024/02/weekend-wanderer-apostrophe/
In the last newsletter, I mentioned that I was doing an interview as part of a podcast. The interview was with the team behind the popular "Butter No Parsnips" podcast, a "weekly adventure through the weird, wacky, wonderful, and sometimes wicked history of one wayside word". I'm thrilled to be able to tell you that a recent published episode featured the mighty apostrophe, and they invited me to join them to talk about the apostrophe and the Apostrophe Protection Society. I think it turned out to be a great podcast, but I would say that, so why don't you sit back and listen to it yourselves. I've included links to "Butter No Parsnips" and the podcast on a blog post, so please look there for the links. You can find the blog here: https://www.apostrophe.org.uk/post/butter-no-parsnips
I am continuing to post new examples sent in by you of apostrophe misuse on the "Examples" page of the website, and also on our Facebook page. Why not browse some of those examples and, if you're a Facebook user, why not follow us. If you come across any particularly bad misuses of the apostrophe, do please submit a photo.
For those of you in the northern hemisphere where spring is definitely on the way, why not start planning ahead for the warmer weather with an official Apostrophe Protection Society t-shirt. And for those of you in the southern hemisphere, act quickly and get one before the summer finishes. Those of you around the middle who have the joys of warm weather all the time don't need to wait at all, so why not get a t-shirt now. You can find a link to our official t-shirt supplier on the APS store page. The APS gets a very small commission on each sale, so you'd be helping with our costs a little as well. The store is here: https://www.apostrophe.org.uk/store
I think that's all for now. I'm going to get a few more photos posted onto the "Examples" page, so you'll be able to browse those very soon.
Best wishes,
Bob
Bob McCalden
Apostrophe Protection Society