Ned Carlson wrote:

What I'm wondering, is HTF did apostrophes get into the
English language, anyway? None of its ancestor/contributing
languages (Anglo-Saxon, Norse, French, Celtic) use or
used apostrophes, did they?

Didn't the British government go on a campaign a few years
ago to eliminate unnecessary punctuation in bureaucratic
communications, aside from commas and full stops (what us
Americans call a period)?


There was no such campaign to my knowledge. But, I have been a
resident of these United States for most of the past twenty years. I
believe it is the UK practice not to use commas in legal documents. I
am still surprised when I see that my attorney has used them in court
submissions.

There is also a "Plain English" movement in the UK, championed, I
believe by one Trevor MacDonald.

Adrian.