Dear APS members,
As always, I'm thrilled to welcome all our new members this month to the Apostrophe Protection Society, and to warmly thank existing members for being there and for helping to support the APS. It means a lot to me, so thank you.
A few of you wrote to me following last month's newsletter on the subject of apostrophes in street signs. They were great examples, and even included some correctly punctuated abbreviations I hadn't come across before. Thank you for those. I'll write something for the website on this topic soon.
The exciting breakthrough that I've finally had was to get an article published in "The Times" (leading UK newspaper) last Saturday, 12 August. It was triggered by me writing to the paper about the upcoming (see below) International Apostrophe Day. It's a good article - a mix of background, comments from me, and the author's own content. I've posted it as a blog post on the website - you can find it here: https://www.apostrophe.org.uk/post/we-re-in-the-times
I've also literally just finished an interview with another journalist for a US newspaper - I won't mention which one right now, but it will hopefully result in something being published tomorrow, and then I'll let you know where it was! If you spot it before I tell you, do please tell me!
Media coverage is important for spreading the message about the APS and the importance of preserving the correct use of the apostrophe. If any of you have any ideas for how I might get more media coverage, do please let me know.
I mentioned above International Apostrophe Day - it's an annual event and it's tomorrow, 15 August. Note that some sources state that it's on 16 August, but I'm going with the 15th, as that's what most sources reference. International Apostrophe Day was initiated by a journalist at another UK newspaper, "The Guardian", back in 2011. As far as I know there are no particular celebrations associated with this day, but I'll be doing my bit by responding to a number of recent emails from members. Perhaps some of you could play your part by telling friends and colleagues about the APS and thereby helping to boost membership further.
Do please keep sending in emails and photos of apostrophe shockers - I love to receive them, and I'll post your new photos onto the website.
That's all for now - I seem to have a number of apostrophe-related tasks to work on, so I'd better get working on that!
Thank you for being members, and I'll write again soon.
Best wishes,
Bob