Sir, – Can you imagine my dismay upon reading your editorial (January 22nd) which recounted how apostrophes are all the rage in Kazakhstan? Twenty years or so ago, I was asked what my wishes would be for the year ahead. I responded that one of my hopes back then was to rid the English language of what I termed "illegal" apostrophes. So as part of my crusade, any Superquinn customer who spotted a rogue apostrophe on our in-store signage was rewarded with a bottle of wine. We were relieved of many bottles. It was all in the spirit of fun and of course, orthography. – Yours, etc,
FEARGAL QUINN,
Founder of Superquinn,
Howth,
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Co Dublin.
Sir, – Your editorial on the endangered apostrophe mentions that “texting teenagers often don’t bother with it”. That is hardly surprising given that the apostrophe button appears on the numbers function menu page and not on the letters function menu of all smartphones. Phone manufacturers, please note. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL C O’CONNOR,
Waterford.