The city council of Birmingham, England, has decided to eliminate
apostrophes from its street signs. Apostrophes are of course normally
quite common in British place names, in constructions such as St.
Paul's Square and Acock's Green. Apparently Birmingham has been quietly
removing them from official signs since 1950, and now it faces a
non-standardized mishmash of usage across the city.
Not exactly as interesting as "No Snickering: That Road Sign Means Something Else," the new york times article about UK place names:
CRAPSTONE, England — When ordering things by telephone, Stewart Pearce tends to take a proactive approach to the inevitable question “What is your address?”
He lays it out straight, so there is no room for unpleasant confusion. “I say, ‘It’s spelled “crap,” as in crap,’ ” said Mr. Pearce, 61, who has lived in Crapstone, a one-shop country village in Devon, for decades.
He lays it out straight, so there is no room for unpleasant confusion. “I say, ‘It’s spelled “crap,” as in crap,’ ” said Mr. Pearce, 61, who has lived in Crapstone, a one-shop country village in Devon, for decades.
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