Cambridge City Council has decided to abolish apostrophes on street signs which has caused a stir among many concerned with the correct use of English.
The council said it was only following national guidelines which claim that apostrophes could cause confusion, especially for emergency services.
The officer responsible for street naming said council policy is now in line with the National Land and Property Gazetteer where all new street names are registered.
Following its guidance, the council decided to avoid “potential confusion over incorrectly punctuated street names” by not using punctuation any more.
"Our understanding was that many data users including the emergency services make no reference at all as to whether an apostrophe is used or not."
Some history will be obscured by the changes. Queens’ College receives its punctuation due to it have been founded by the wife of King Henry VI and re-established later by King Edward IV’s consort. Queen’s Road, on the other hand, denotes a different heritage.
The policy of ascribing names has also banned any deemed “difficult to pronounce or awkward to spell” as well as any which could “give offence” or “encourage defacing of nameplaces.”
The Good Grammar Company, itself based in Cambridge, called the more “deplorable”, and noted that "dropping apostrophes is pandering to the lowest denominator and while eradicating them anywhere is dreadful, it is particularly bad to do it in Cambridge.
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