Council chiefs reject decision to ban apostrophes after global outrage

A local authority has reversed its decision to ban apostrophes on new street signs – after sparking outrage from locals and linguists. North Yorkshire Council previously said all new street signs would be made without punctuation to avoid problems with IT systems.

And when a new sign was erected in St Mary’s Walk in Harrogate without the apostrophe, it caused international outrage. It made headlines around the world and drew heavy criticism from locals, with one saying: “It bores my blood.”

But Keane Duncan, executive member of the highways authority, said: “The apostrophe will live on.”

He told a meeting on Wednesday (May 15): “I am pleased to confirm today that this council is not dropping standards. The apostrophe will continue in North Yorkshire.

“The county will continue to be a paradise of proper punctuation, at least on street signs. All new indicators will be fully punctuated, not only with apostrophes, but also with hyphens and ampersands.”

Mr Duncan also said the “controversial” new sign on St Mary’s Walk would be replaced with one showing the correct punctuation. And he said there would be no more “unnecessary name abbreviations” in the future.

Some on social media strongly defended the use of apostrophes when the council initially announced their ban. One resident wrote: “You need to apply the apostrophe rule, without it the English language is dead.”

Another added: “Another crazy council throwing money away – stop meddling and messing with things and keep the services running properly.”