Fingernails on a chalkboard (remember those?) irritate some people. Misuse of apostrophes is what drives me up a wall.... especially when the misuse occurs on signs, in academia, and in the newspaper.

Of course, misspellings and grammatical errors in our small-town News-Fishwrap are so commonplace that reading it has become a bi-weekly cognitive-behavioral therapy for my malapostrophobia.

Speaking of therapy for that.... one of my insights is that it may be rooted in family: I have a brother and a nephew who have PhDs, and a brother-in-law and sister-in-law who have JDs. Apparently command of the intricacies of the language is not considered to be essential in the education of a doctoral candidate.

Late-breaking news: My brother does NOT have a PhD. He has an EdD (Doctor of Education). I'll leave the punchline for you to figure out on your own.

Labels: apostrophe, fingernails on a chalkboard, Grammar, malapostrophobia, spelling