Use the language very carefully

I was recently in Penney’s at the Oak Mall and I noticed a table of nicely embroidered shirts for mothers and grandmothers. Both shirts were Disney products: one shirt had Winnie the Pooh and another had Mickey Mouse on it. Both styles had the words "Mom’s are Wonderful." Another similar shirt had "Grandma’s are Wonderful." I hope you noticed the grammatical error in both cases (the misuse of the apostrophe).

Apostrophes are used in contractions to symbolize a missing letter (sometimes more than one letter) or to show possessiveness. They are not used to symbolize plurals.

Since English is a quirky language, there are exceptions to every rule, and there is one very common exception. The word "its" is one possessive noun that does not have an apostrophe. "It’s" means "it is" and follows the normal rule for contractions.

The errors on the shirts really bothered me and I couldn’t leave the store without talking to a manager. I gave her my name and address and I was told that I might hear from the buyer. Sure enough, I did get a letter from a senior buyer just yesterday who told me that the error had been discovered (I am not sure if it was before or after my pointing it out) and that the shirts have been pulled from the stores.

I understand that people make mistakes and we all check for typographical errors (known as typos, not typo’s). However, our family has noticed an increased carelessness in spelling in general, and particularly with the use of the
apostrophe. In fact, I would label the misuse of apostrophes as an epidemic.

Good spelling is not inherited; it is learned through reading. Reading helps us to see words in context and we learn proper spelling through repetition and familiarity with words. In addition, reading increases our vocabulary. With our society’s emphasis on games such as Play Station and Nintendo, reading has, unfortunately, become a lost art.

The shirts I saw are only one example. At our sons’ (more than one son) baseball fields, the menu on the snack shack reads, "Soda’s - $1.00." At another location, we saw a sign that read, "Thank’s." What seems to make matters
worse is that when we point these errors out, the people in charge don’t really seem to care and look at us as if we need to get a life.

My husband is a professional writer and I am an editor for my college magazine. Perhaps we are more tuned into grammar and spelling than most people. However, I don’t see any reason why we all can’t be more aware of the proper way to write. We must all make sure that the English language in proper usage is preserved.

We have all heard about the so-called "dumbing down of society." It doesn’t have to be that way. We can all learn proper spelling and grammar and then pass it on to those people around us.

I believe that the teachers in our school district are doing a good job in teaching proper grammar and spelling, but it will only stick with our kids if they see the proper usage in the society around them. In fact, our own two kids (in second and fourth grade) are noticing the spelling and apostrophe errors almost as much as we are.

Please do what you can to set a good example by using proper spelling and grammar and helping to fix it when you see an error. I believe that the carelessness in today’s society can be reversed.

One way is to encourage reading by adults and children alike. The principal at our school, Sheila Carlson at Aspen Elementary, is famous for saying, "Read, read, and read some more."

Please read and encourage your children to do the same. Proper usage of apostrophes, proper spelling and increased vocabularies will come naturally from increased reading habits and help us to take pride in how we present ourselves.

Gail Ginell

Thousand Oaks