Newsletters & Blogs

This article was published in the University of Minnesota Retirees Association newsletter, Spring 2026.

This story in the "Yountville Sun" (a town in northern California) shows the importance of apostrophe placement in a wine-based legal dispute. https://yountvillesun.com/the-apostrophe/ The apostrophe By Richard Puntillo September 11, 2025 In this piece, I want to tell a true story of the importance of the apostrophe. Indeed, the exact placement of an apostrophe was central to a decision of the California Supreme Court. The story begins some 50 years ago in Paris at the inte

For those of you not familiar with it, Countdown is a much loved British TV game show involving word and mathematical tasks. It's been running since 1982, currently on its 92nd series! One of the regular co-presenters is the lexicographer Susie Dent. On the show broadcast on 23 March 2026, she stated: "There is an Apostrophe Protection Society and I kind of secretly admire them." It might only be a small mention, but from Susie Dent it's a big moment! And, very importantly, i

There is quite a good article on the apostrophe on RTE's website (RTE is the national radio broadcaster in Ireland).The article, updated in January this year, also has a link to an interview I did on RTE back in September 2023, so it's doubly worth having a look at. Here's an extract of the article to set the scene: Analysis: This little piece of punctuation has been labelled 'aberrant', 'troublesome' and 'ambivalent' and is regularly embarrassed in public places By Deborah T

As an example of how interest in the APS and the apostrophe is spread over the English-speaking world, I was contacted by the Hindustan Times (the second largest English language newspaper in India). They interviewed me about the APS, and subsequently printed an article back in September last year.

From "The Guardian" newspaper, 7 October 2024 Linguistic body has relaxed rules on use of apostrophe to show possession, not...

This story appeared in The New York Times on August 10, 2024 https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/10/us/harris-walz-apostrophe-possessive.html...

The Guardian - UK - Friday 2 August 2024 https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/aug/02/yorkshire-apostrophe-row-raises-bigger-q...

This is a selection of links to media coverage of the North Yorkshire Council decision to remove apostrophes from street signs - and the...

They say that "Fine words butter no parsnips". But I was delighted to talk at length recently with the team behind the popular Butter No...

I was interviewed on "The Moncrieff Show" on Newstalk National Radio in Ireland on 22 November. Like the Radio 5 Live interview, it was...

Partly prompted by the St Mary's Terrace apostrophe story, I was interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Live's "In my opinion ..." slot. The format...

Defenders of the apostrophe are right to admire this versatile linguistic device The Times Leading Articles Saturday November 18 2023,...

A recent story from Hampshire, England, about an apostrophe that was dropped when the local council replaced a local road sign has caught...

Further to the article in the Sunday Telegraph, the Telegraph Puzzles team followed it up with this little article extract on 4...

I was interviewed by Jeremy Vine on his BBC Radio 2 programme on Monday 4 September. Here's the audio clip:

I was thrilled to be interviewed live on RTE Radio1 (Ireland's national broadcaster) on Friday 8 September. Here's a link to the audio...

The following article appeared in "Saga Exceptional" magazine on 7 September 2023. Author - Hannah Verdier https://www.exceptional.com/li...

The APS is back in The Times again! Here's the story published on 4 September 2023. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/alls-forgiven-apos...

The Sunday Telegraph interviewed me and published an article on 3 September 2023. Reborn Apostrophe Society ‘will never give up defending...