In a move that has sparked outrage among grammar enthusiasts and residents alike, North Yorkshire Council has decided to ban the use of apostrophes on new street signs. The council's decision is aimed at avoiding complications with computer systems and geographical databases, but it has been met with a wave of criticism.
The council's new policy dictates that all new street signs will be produced without the punctuation mark, regardless of whether one was used in the past. The council asserts that using apostrophes and other punctuation marks can cause issues when conducting searches of geographical databases.
The first casualty of this new rule was St Mary's Walk in Harrogate, where a new sign was erected without the apostrophe. However, a defiant resident took matters into their own hands and drew the missing punctuation mark in with a marker pen.
Dr. Ellie Rye, a lecturer in English language and linguistics at the University of York, weighed in on the controversy. She told the BBC that while apostrophes might help disambiguate certain phrases in writing, their absence is "less important in [verbal] communication."
The council's decision has sparked a flurry of criticism from residents. Local resident Clare Cross expressed her outrage on social media, stating that she was "absolutely outraged" the council had banned the use of an apostrophe because it’s confusing for computer databases. She added, "No, it’s not, it’s grammar. I for one will be protesting."
Carrie Anne Bodle, another resident, lamented that the council's decision "dumbs down the English language". She shared that she used to use road signs to teach her young children the alphabet and how to read.
The council defended its decision, stating that it was in line with many other councils across the country that had chosen to "eliminate" the apostrophe from street signs. The council's spokesperson added that all punctuation would be considered but avoided where possible to meet the standards set out in BS7666, which restricts the use of punctuation marks and special characters to avoid potential problems when searching databases.
This isn't the first time a council has faced backlash for banning apostrophes on street signs. In 2013, Mid Devon District Council was criticized for wanting to ban apostrophes on street signs, and Birmingham City Council and Cambridge City Council have also implemented similar bans.
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