Morning:
3°c
An accountant who used a can of paint and a brush to insert missing apostrophes on street signs has been branded a vandal.
Stefan Gatward, 62, of Tunbridge Wells, bought a can of black paint and a brush and amended the sign on his street, printed as St Johns Close.
A neighbour watched Mr Gatward, a former soldier, and praised him but another bystander, also a soldier, took offence.
Mr Gatward said: “He asked me what I was doing and told me I was wrong. He called me a vandal and a graffiti artist. He tried to tell me that the post office would not deliver to the street if you put an apostrophe on the address.”
He argued with the soldier and walked along the road to paint an apostrophe on another sign. “I've lived on St John's Close for 14 months now and have had to look at those signs every day. I decided enough was enough,” he said.
Mr Gatward said he was passionate about the English language. “I think one should stand up for things, and language is worth standing up for.
“The trouble is that some teachers don't know how to use grammar properly, so children don't either. Local authorities just don't bother.”
Reader views (15)
Absolutely right! Lack of apostrophes and insertion in the wrong place (to make plurals, would you believe!)is symptomatic of a general lowering of standards in this country (ranking with obesity where people are too lazy or thick to care what they look like). By the way, it is Royal Tunbridge Wells to give the town the correct name.
- Adam De Gurdon, Royal Tunbridge Wells
Mr.Gatward's linguistic gifts are not retricted to punctuation........
I have fond memories of meeting him a few years ago at the Catholic Church of Our Lady of La Salette and St.Joseph in Bermondsey,when he had us in stiches with his amazingly gifted impersonations of national and regional accents.
Rory Bremner has nothing on Mr.Gatward !
Forget accountancy Stefan and work on a one-man show....you would be laughing all the way to the bank!
- Anthony Weaver, London,England
WOW! That must be the most boring place in the entire UK if all they have to argue about is whether there should or shouldnt be an apostrophe.
Come to think of it - they are very lucky to have ANY road signs.
Go back to sleep disgruntled Tunbridge Well's.
- Reuben Camara, Principality of Morecambe, UK
Back in the 1980s, I used to live in Pepys Road, New Cross. A builder later converted a large building into flats at the bottom end of the road, and in order to 'posh it up', attached a brass nameplate with the name Pepy's Lodge.
In the end, I had to walk another way home as it used to grate so much. I wonder if it is still there?
- George, London
I agree completely, apostrophe's are very important and shouldnt be taken lightly.
- Steven Stephenson, St Johns Wood, London
As you see from my address I live in King's Lynn, Norfolk, and object strongly when this is spelt "Kings" as in the plural of king because this not what it refers to. The king in question was Henry VIII, who changed the name of the town from Bishop's Lynn to King's Lynn.
Mind you, it's not only punctuation that's at fault nowadays but spelling as well, and sometimes you even get a combination of the two. For example, on a sandwich-board outside a cheap caff in London SE26 (where I used to live) I saw this word written twice: "potatoe" and "potatoe's".
I blame the increasing Americanism of our language and also texting language on mobile 'phones.
- Judith, KIng's Lynn, Norfolk, UK
In the US Pike's Peak has lost its spike. How are we supposed to understand Pikes Peak? A peak of pikes? Surely that should be peaks of pikes, but its not Pikes Peaks, is it! I am 100% behind Mr Gatward on this one. It must be a nightmare to suddenly find yourself living on St Johns Close. How would you feel if your possessive suddenly became plural? It must be like dawn of the dead down there with the multiplication of St Johns. Is there a doctor in the house?
- Bloke, London
Qite agree with Mr. Gatward...anyone who considers him to be a vandal is surely a plonker.
- Philip, castres france
Well done Mr Gatward. Why apostrophes matter:
Residents refuse to be collected
Resident's refuse to be collected
Residents' refuse to be collected
- Dan Ashley, London
It sounds like a wonderfully pedantic place to live, one can only assume that it's a very boring town if they have nothing better to do than argue about apostrophes (although I totally agree with them).
- Bob, Cheam
Double standards here. If Banksy had done the signs would have been on ebay by now.
- Paul, London
Good for him! I wonder if the councils which do this are too lazy, too stupid or too incompetent to use apostrophes?
Or is it just that all the data-entry these days is done in India . . .
- Roz, France
Mr Gatward was absolutely right to paint the missing apostrophes.
Sometimes I am tempted to do the same on some signs...
- Steven, London
When he says "children don't either", shouldn't he really say "neither do children"?
- Keith, King's Cross
A very large number of signs have errors as far as corresponding to proper modern English usage - usually in the possessive apostrophe missing. For many signs, the problem probably arose at a time there was little emphasis on correct spelling. For instance, a farmer named Cashe owned a farm west of Stroud, Glos. at one time. Now a residential suburb of Stroud, the area is known today as Cashes Green. On some old OS maps it is Cashe's Green. Things evolve. My thought is that a name can have a life apart from how it was derived. But I can see the frustration for some when StJohn's is spelled StJohns. Of course, you have the opposite problem with the "greengrocer's apostrophe", i.e. banana's. These may actually help children with spelling, in that brighter ones wonder at the spelling and question it.
- Phil Jones, London UK
